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.
Three flavors of investigators combine here: the citizen detective, the private detective and the police detective.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026
A private detective, Auguste Bell, arrives to solve the crime.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
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
This much I can tell you: Colin Farrell plays a private detective in “Sugar.”
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
