Synonyms of private eye

private eye

noun

as in detective

a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons

unable to get the interest of the police, they hired a private eye to find their missing daughter

Synonyms & Similar Words

• detective
• investigator
• private detective
• private investigator
• operative
• dick
• hawkshaw
• sleuth
• sleuthhound
• gumshoe
• shamus
• sherlock
• tracer
• tracker
• tail
• Federal
• fed
• shadow
• narc
• plainclothesman
• G-man

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of private eye

In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova. — Rick Ellis, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Daniel was with Caron from the very beginning of Moonlighting, which starred Shepherd as Maddie Hayes, owner of the struggling Blue Moon Detective Agency, and Bruce Willis as David Addison, the playful private eye who goes to work for her. — Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 28 May 2026

Nicolas Cage, in his first live-action television role, plays Ben Reilly, a down-at-the-heels private eye, spiking his morning coffee with whiskey helpfully provided by his knowing secretary, Janet (Karen Rodriguez), and barely scraping by on the occasional divorce case. — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 2026

Set in 1979, the series follows Leila, a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian young woman with a love of film and pulp novels who travels to California to reconnect with her estranged uncle – a semi-retired private eye once celebrated for having married the starlet he was originally hired to find. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 20 May 2026