as in detective
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons the firm hired a hawkshaw to find out who was fencing stock from their warehouse

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hawkshaw
Noun
  • Anyone with information regarding the man’s death can contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
    Caroline Zimmerman, Kansas City Star, 10 Sep. 2025
  • This time, police taped off the house and questioned Sutton-Schulman for two hours until a detective got a call from the hospital confirming that L had attempted suicide in the woods behind the house.
    Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica, 10 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • Boelter’s motivation remains unclear, but investigators found a one-and-a-half-page letter, described as rambling and difficult to read, that was ascribed to him.
    Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 16 Sep. 2025
  • One of the main enforcers of H-2A rules, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, last year had one of the lowest levels of investigators since the H-2A program was launched in the 1980s, Rutgers University researchers found.
    Max Blau, ProPublica, 16 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The film written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke stars Margaret Qualley as a small-town private eye working a case of strange deaths at a mysterious church.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Short version: In this movie co-written and directed by Ethan Coen, Margaret Qualley plays a swaggering, small-town private eye whose investigations into a series of strange deaths lead her to a mysterious church run by a charismatic (and corrupt) preacher played by Chris Evans.
    Chris Foran, jsonline.com, 20 Aug. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Hawkshaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hawkshaw. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.

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