private detective
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.
It is the first of five novels starring Neal Carey: “a graduate student who, much like me,” the author wrote, “was too busy making a living as a private detective to finish his degree.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
Marten's family also hired a private detective to find her.
From BBC • Jul. 14, 2025
Both articles were produced during a period when the newspaper has acknowledged paying the private detective explicitly to obtain material surreptitiously.
From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2024
She wants to solve her mystery, as every private detective does.
From Salon • Apr. 2, 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
