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.
"You look at profiles on these sites and ask yourself 'is this person real?'. You have to be like a private investigator researching people's profiles before you connect."
From BBC • May 21, 2026
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
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
If he’s some sort of private investigator for Minerwa.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
