private investigator
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of private investigator
First recorded in 1935–40
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Advocates have since ceased operations, but co-founder and private investigator, Cynthia Liles, is still running the hotline under the name 2x2 Church Accountability.
From BBC • Feb. 15, 2026
Hartley said the internal inquiry was mainly relying on the spreadsheets of payments to Whittamore - which might have been inaccurate - not the notes of the private investigator himself.
From BBC • Feb. 12, 2026
In 1986, Don Winslow was a 33-year-old New York-born, world-traveling private investigator who, during stakeouts, read crime fiction by authors such as Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy and Joseph Wambaugh.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
In tears, she said it was "deeply hurtful" to read the statement of a private investigator who allegedly admitted, in her words to the court on Thursday, "bugging and listening to all my conversations."
From BBC • Jan. 22, 2026
He could have gotten Nazario to hire the best private investigator in the city and traced her all the way to Florida.
From "Bodega Dreams" by Ernesto Quinonez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
