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

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

After the alleged extortion started, Huang said, he hired an attorney and a private detective and began surreptitiously recording conversations with the defendants.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 7, 2024

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

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