sleuth

noun \ ˈslüth \

Updated on: 24 Apr 2018

Definition of sleuth

: detective

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Examples of sleuth in a Sentence

the popular TV sleuth lives a much more action-packed life than do his real-world counterparts

Recent Examples of sleuth from the Web

But this is social media, where nothing escapes the gravitational pull of the internet sleuths.

— michael harriot, The Root, "White Woman Who Assaulted Black Man for Kneeling During Anthem Used N-Word, Attends California Baptist University: Report," 10 Oct. 2017
The text, written in a language that has yet to be decoded, has confounded scholars, cryptologists and amateur sleuths for centuries.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Here’s What You Need to Know About the Mysterious Voynich Manuscript," 12 Sep. 2017
The solution should be seismic news in the Voynich world—for medieval scholars and amateur sleuths alike—but the reaction to Gibbs’s theory has been decidedly underwhelming.

— sarah zhang, The Atlantic, "Has the Voynich Manuscript Really Been Solved?," 10 Sep. 2017
The celebrated actor-director is currently in theaters portraying another iconic detective, Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express.

— abid rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, "International Emmy Awards: Full Winners List," 21 Nov. 2017
On one side is an alliance of sleuths and scholars pushing for Trump to mind the 1992 law that requires the release this week of all 3,150 still-secret files on Kennedy’s killing on Nov. 22, 1963.

— Washington Post, "On JFK documents, Trump squeezed over disclosure," 25 Oct. 2017
And there's nothing available to the amateur Internet sleuth that would suggest there is any sort of racial connotation tied to the phrase either.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "Is calling someone an 'empty barrel' racist?," 20 Oct. 2017
At least, that’s the rationale online sleuths and jokesters are using to argue that the first lady is using a body double.

— heather schwedel, Slate Magazine, "Free Fake Melania," 18 Oct. 2017
On Tuesday, however, Mr. Parco, 67, made the leap from a simple sleuth and connoisseur of crime to a criminal defendant.

— alan feuer, New York Times, "A Blackmail Case With Prostitutes, a Video and Sex Abuse Charges," 19 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sleuth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of sleuth

short for sleuthhound

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1872

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

sleuth Synonyms

Synonyms

detective, investigator, operative, private detective, private eye, private investigator, sherlock;

Related Words

shadow, tail, tracer, tracker;

fed, Federal, G-man, narc (or nark) [slang], plainclothesman;

Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

sleuth

verb

Definition of sleuth

intransitive verb

: to act as a detective : search for information

transitive verb

: to search for and discover

Recent Examples of sleuth from the Web

They were sold two years ago, but in the meantime, Trevor had sleuthed a rustic compound based around an honest-to-goodness Craftsman Sears kit house of the sort that sprang up all across America at the turn of the century.

— oberto gili, Vogue, "Napa of Another Time: Restoring a 100-Year-Old Home in Wine Country," 18 Jan. 2018
The birth of eBay signaled an entirely new way of sleuthing out vintage gear.

— nick sullivan, Esquire, "Vintage Expert Sean Crowley Shares His Tips for Scoring the Perfect Find," 5 Jan. 2018
Cincinnati's bus system by the numbers Wochit Troy Miller has been sleuthing Greater Cincinnati's main public transportation agency for years, certainly long before SORTA recently found $8 million just sitting around in its bank account.

— jason williams, Cincinnati.com, "PX: SORTA leader pushes sales tax in Hamilton County – even though he votes in Texas," 15 Feb. 2018
And despite finally learning the name of Kylie's new baby — Stormi Webster — the Internet still cannot stop sleuthing for hints about the origin of the unique moniker.

— melissa minton, Teen Vogue, "Stormi Webster's Name Might Be Connected to Butterflies After All," 8 Feb. 2018
Barron and a team of researchers have spent years sleuthing around the Vatican library, the immense General Archive of the Indies, in Seville, Spain, and in small churches and libraries scattered throughout Latin America.

— laura millan lombrana, Bloomberg.com, "He Struck It Rich in Ecuador. Now He’s Looking for the Lost Cities of Gold," 20 Dec. 2017
Upon closer inspection, though, some sleuthing fans on Reddit got one step ahead of the rest of us and noticed something unusual: a huge ad for the drug Revival covering the side of a city building.

— ashley iasimone, Billboard, "Fake Drug Ad Hints Eminem's New Album Might Be Called 'Revival'," 25 Oct. 2017
Earlier efforts to sleuth out streaming ratings have faced criticism.

— john koblin, New York Times, "How Many People Watch Netflix? Nielsen Tries to Solve a Mystery," 18 Oct. 2017
And in terms of sleuthing out scheme and wrinkles, Carolina acquired cornerback Kevon Seymour from Buffalo in the trade for speedy receiver Kaelin Clay and a 2019 seventh-round draft pick.

— jourdan rodrigue, charlotteobserver, "Panthers-Bills connection? Players, coaches say it goes deeper than swapping sidelines," 15 Sep. 2017

Did You Know?

They were the footprints of a gigantic hound! Those canine tracks in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles set the great Sherlock Holmes sleuthing on the trail of a murderer. It was a case of art imitating etymology. When Middle English speakers first borrowed sleuth from Old Norse, the term referred to "the track of an animal or person." In Scotland, a sleuthhound was a bloodhound used to hunt game or track down fugitives from justice. In 19th century U.S. English, sleuthhound became an epithet for a detective and was soon shortened to sleuth. From there, it was only a short leap to turning sleuth into a verb describing what a sleuth does.