private detective
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of private detective
First recorded in 1865–70
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.
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
Three flavors of investigators combine here: the citizen detective, the private detective and the police detective.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026
She said a private detective hired by the family found no criminal records for a person named Paramjit Singh in the state, suggesting authorities may have mistaken him for someone else.
From BBC • Oct. 13, 2025
A private detective finally found Madrigal living in Las Vegas with her oldest son, Oren, who didn’t learn about his mother’s tragic, historic past until answering the researcher’s call.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 2, 2024
A lawyer and a former private detective with the Burns agency, Davis had a groomed sleekness.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
