private investigator
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
One of those paid, the private investigator Gavin Burrows, seemed to have entered two statements.
From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026
“When I applied to become a private investigator, I had assumed that there would be a little bit more back-and-forth,” she told me.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2026
The live-action series is based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir, telling the story of Ben Reilly - a hardened private investigator in 1930s New York, played by Nicolas Cage.
From BBC • May 27, 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
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.
