howdunit

H4O1W4D2U1N1I1T1

noun

A type of detective story in which the focus is not on the person who committed the crime, but on the manner in which it was committed.

Scrabble 15
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Meanings

nounhowdunit (plural howdunits)

plural howdunits · alternative howdunnit

  1. broadcastingA type of detective story in which the focus is not on the person who committed the crime, but on the manner in which it was committed.

    After half a century, the whodunit was joined by the howdunit, in which the emphasis swung from the identity of the murderer to the method by which the murder was committed.

    1969, Ellery Queen, In the Queens' Parlor, and Other Leaves from the Editors' Notebook, page 72

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

whodunit
Cite this entry
APA

howdunit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/howdunit

MLA

“howdunit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/howdunit. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “howdunit,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/howdunit.

Source: howdunit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.