detective

as in investigator
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons the code used by the serial killer in his letters to the police was actually cracked by an amateur detective

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Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of detective The show enlists resident celebrity detectives Benjamin Kheng, Gurmit Singh, Najip Ali and Xixi Lim to assist — or mislead — contestants in their decisions. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 5 Jan. 2025 Jeffrey Mathes, officer Rex Engelbert and detectives Michael Collazo, Ryan Cagle and Zachary Plese rushed to the scene and faced gunfire from the shooter. Josh Boak The Associated Press, arkansasonline.com, 4 Jan. 2025 Questioning John is Lou Smit, a homicide detective then working for the Boulder D.A.'s office. Erin Moriarty, CBS News, 21 Dec. 2024 David Hasselhoff and company tried to make this after-dark Baywatch spinoff work, but turning frequently shirtless lifeguard Mitch into a second-shift detective wasn’t a natural progression for the character. Sara Netzley, EW.com, 21 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for detective 

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Cite this Entry

“Detective.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detective. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.

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