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.
Wright later called an allegation of paying a private investigator to "blag" information from Lady Lawrence "absolute nonsense".
From BBC • Feb. 17, 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
After setting up his own company, he was hired an as in-house private investigator for two US news shows.
From BBC • Feb. 3, 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
The general put him in touch with a private investigator named Peter Kalitka, who’d done contract work for both the DIA and the CIA.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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.
