Synonyms of private detective

private detective

noun

as in detective

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

when the police insisted that it was an accident and not murder, she hired a private detective

Synonyms & Similar Words

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of private detective

The stylistic eccentricities have been dialed back, including the use of old Hollywood film clips to reflect the action and possibly the thoughts of its main character, a cinephile from space, who is both practicing and enacting the work of a private detective. — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2026

William Hopper’s Paul Drake assisted as Mason’s go-to private detective with a knack for finding the evidence Mason and his clients needed. — Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 16 June 2026

Meanwhile, private detectives probed Hadley’s vulnerabilities as a witness. — Heidi Blake, New Yorker, 8 June 2026

In Spider-Noir, Nicolas Cage plays a down-on-his-luck private detective who used to be New York's only superhero. — Brittney Melton, NPR, 5 June 2026