as in detective
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons
the couple paid a gumshoe to look for their missing son
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example 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 gumshoe
Alas, by then the cheese heiress has skipped the country, and one Mickey Finn later our gumshoe comes to consciousness aboard an eastbound ship on the Atlantic.
—
Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Chris Columbus, director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, helms the comedic caper, which follows an amiable gang of gumshoes who spend their golden years investigating cold cases.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Io is a world-weary gumshoe who can see all the threads that bind mortals to their fates and uses this unusual perception to solve mysteries and crimes.
—John Wiswell, People.com, 3 July 2025
Greenspan’s elastic voice and ceaselessly expressive hands also turn him into Ulysses—a church organist from the Faulkner south whose fanatical devotion to Theda led him, like Iras, straight to her door—and into Detective Finale, Iras’s gumshoe father who’s on the case of their disappearance.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for gumshoe
Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Chris Columbus, director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, helms the comedic caper, which follows an amiable gang of gumshoes who spend their golden years investigating cold cases.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Io is a world-weary gumshoe who can see all the threads that bind mortals to their fates and uses this unusual perception to solve mysteries and crimes.
—John Wiswell, People.com, 3 July 2025
Greenspan’s elastic voice and ceaselessly expressive hands also turn him into Ulysses—a church organist from the Faulkner south whose fanatical devotion to Theda led him, like Iras, straight to her door—and into Detective Finale, Iras’s gumshoe father who’s on the case of their disappearance.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2024
See All Example Sentences for gumshoe
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gumshoe
Noun
-
Homicide detectives deemed the death suspicious and began investigating.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
11 Nov. 2025
-
The show is also adding Ashley Walters, who earned an Emmy nomination for his incredible turn playing the lead detective in Netflix’s Adolescence.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Instead, the Kennedy focuses on the stark reality of a man fighting to protect himself and his family from Santa Fe prosecutors and investigators, who in the doc, seem driven less by the facts than by their interest in putting Baldwin on trial for his polarizing public persona.—
Addie Morfoot,
Variety,
10 Nov. 2025
-
This allowed investigators to collect DNA, which led them to the teen, Scott said.—
Cameron Knight,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
10 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Gumshoe.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gumshoe. Accessed 25 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share