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.
Our everyman is Ben Reilly — played by the incomparable Nicolas Cage, making his live-action television debut — a private investigator who moonlights as the city’s only superhero, the Spider.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
The ultraviolent 1991 film was directed by her former husband Renny Harlin and co-starred Samuel L. Jackson as a lowly private investigator.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
Wright also strongly denied allegations he met private investigator Jonathan Rees and corrupt police officers in Thornton Heath pubs to pay them for information for stories.
From BBC • Feb. 17, 2026
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
He was a successful private investigator who’d solved lots of tough cases.
From "A Monster of a Mystery (The Hardy Boys: Secret Files, #5)" by Franklin W. Dixon
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.
