private detective

American  

noun

1. a detective who is not a member of an official force but is employed by private parties.

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private detective British  

noun

1. Also called: private investigator.  an individual privately employed to investigate a crime, keep watch on a suspected person, or make other inquiries

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Etymology

Origin of private detective

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

Claude, meanwhile, having left the police to become a private detective, is obsessed with solving a string of related wartime murders, including that of Huguette’s father.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Marten's family also hired a private detective to find her.

From BBC • Jul. 14, 2025

Directed by Arthur Penn, who had previously worked with the actor on his breakthrough role in “Bonnie and Clyde,” Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a former pro football player turned L.A. private detective.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025

I can also tell you that his character, John Sugar, is not an ordinary private detective, in ways that go beyond his fetishization of the film noir heroes he emulates.

From New York Times • Apr. 5, 2024

During much of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, private detective agencies had filled the vacuum left by decentralized, underfunded, incompetent, and corrupt sheriff and police departments.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• detective
• gumshoe
• private eye
• private investigator
• sleuth