Key Vocabulary for Crime and Detective Fiction

Posted on Jan 29, 2025 in English

Detective: A senior police officer whose job is to try to discover information about a crime.
Case: A crime that the police are investigating.
Fingersprint: A mark on something that you have touched that shows the pattern of lines on your fingers.
Identify: To recognize someone and be able to say who they are.
Prove: To provide evidence that shows that something is true.
Arrested: To take someone into a prison because he has committed a crime.
Break the law: To do something that is not allowed by the law.
Guilty: Someone who has committed a crime or has done something wrong.

Stubborn: Not willing to change your ideas or decisions.
Fault: Something that makes someone or something less good.
Greedy: Wanting more money, possessions, or power than you need.
Ashamed: Feeling guilty or embarrassed about something that you have done.
Honest: A person who is honest does not tell lies or cheat people and obeys the law.
Mean: Not willing to spend money.
Satisfied: Pleased with what has happened, or with what you have achieved.

In-laws: The parents or other relatives of your husband or wife.
Widow: A woman whose husband has died.
Accountant: Someone whose job is to prepare or check financial records or accounts.

Strangled: To kill a person or an animal by squeezing their throat.
Persuaded: To make someone agree to do something by giving them a reason why they should.
Refused: To say that you will not do or accept something, or will not let someone do something.
Sacked: To force someone to leave their job.
Threaten: To tell someone that you will cause them harm or problems in order to make them do something.
Complained: To say that you are not satisfied with something.
Digging: To make a hole in the earth using your hands or a tool.

Fiction: Books and stories about events and people that are not real.
Cottage: A small old house in a village or in the countryside.
Glove: A piece of clothing that covers your fingers and hand.
Scar: A permanent mark on your skin where you have been injured.
Plum: A small round fruit with purple, red, or yellow skin and a large hard stone inside.
Jewelry: Objects that you wear as decoration.
Parcel: The things you have bought in a shop, wrapped in paper or held in bags so that they can be carried.
Dummy: A model of a person’s body, often used to show clothes in shops.
Cesspit: A large hole under the ground for collecting liquid and solid waste that comes from a building.
Drainage: A system of pipes and passages that take away water from an area.

Sympathy: A feeling of kindness and understanding that you have for someone who is experiencing problems.
Stress: A worried or nervous feeling that makes you unable to relax, or a situation that makes you feel like this.
Gaelic: A Celtic language that people speak in parts of Scotland and Ireland.
Flirting: To behave towards someone in a way that shows that you are sexually attracted to them.
Sick: If you are sick, you have an illness.
Retired: No longer working at a job, especially when you are old.
Wages: A regular amount of money that you earn for working.