Meaning & use
sleuth work
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Meaning
noununcountableinformal
the careful, often tiring process of looking for information and clues to solve a mystery or problem.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it takes singular verbs and no article: 'The sleuth work was hard.' Say 'some sleuth work', not 'a sleuth work'.
Patterns
- do some sleuth work
- sleuth work on something
After weeks of sleuth work, she finally found the missing invoice.
The journalist did some old-fashioned sleuth work to uncover the truth.
Good sleuth work means checking every detail, even the boring ones.
Common combinations
- do some sleuth work
- I had to do some sleuth work to find out who sent the anonymous letter.
- painstaking sleuth work
- It took painstaking sleuth work to trace the money.
- a bit of sleuth work
- A bit of sleuth work revealed that the company had changed its name.
- sleuth work on something
- She did sleuth work on the old records to find the birth date.
Synonyms and how they differ
- detective work
- Very similar in meaning, but slightly more formal and often used for professional investigations.
- investigation
- A broader term for any official or systematic examination; 'sleuth work' suggests a more informal, clue-following process.
- legwork
- Focuses on the physical or tedious part of gathering information, while 'sleuth work' can include mental deduction too.
Word family
Commonly confused: sleuth work or sloth? sleuth work or sleuth?
sleuth work vs sloth
A slow-moving animal or laziness; not related to investigation.
sleuth work vs sleuth
A person who does sleuth work; 'sleuth work' is the activity itself.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'sleuth work' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Sleuth work' is uncountable, so 'some sleuth work' is correct. 'A sleuth work' is wrong because uncountable nouns don't take 'a'. 'The sleuth work were' is wrong because it takes a singular verb. 'Sleuth working' is not a standard form.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sleuth work”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.