PRIVATE DETECTIVE Synonyms: 22 Similar Words

private detective

noun

Definition of private detective

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

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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 private detective 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 The movie was made even stranger by then-Hollywood heavyweights like Jackie Chan, Whoopi Goldberg, and Robert Evans playing heightened versions of themselves — not to mention an unsettling performance by Harvey Weinstein as a private detective that has, to put it mildly, not aged well. — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 15 Apr. 2026 Jackson was involved with the show — which followed three beautiful private detectives — from the very beginning, helping Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg put together the idea after her time on The Rookies. — Kirsten Chuba, HollywoodReporter, 7 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for private detective

Recent Examples of Synonyms for private detective

Noun

The case broke open when a Grapevine detective obtained a covert DNA sample from soda bottles in Brown’s trash in Colorado.

— Amy McDaniel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 July 2026
However, sheriff’s office detectives are investigating the circumstances of his death.

— Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 18 July 2026

Definition of detective

Noun

According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, investigators reviewed social media accounts, a website and a billboard in Latin America that advertised maternity packages at South Texas hospitals to foreign nationals.

— Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 July 2026
In June, federal investigators began approaching her and Newsom’s associates and friends in a wide-ranging probe into her taxes.

— Lia Russell July 17, Sacbee.com, 18 July 2026

Definition of investigator

Noun

With the Christmas action hit under his belt and the private eye dramedy’s cancellation in 1989, the actor moved into film work full-time.

— Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
In Metropia, a gigantic city in an alternate future as seen from 1939, private eye Raymond Gunn is drawn into a case involving aliens, murder and a multimedia star named Venus Nova.

— Rick Ellis, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

Definition of private eye

Noun

Yaga stars Schitt’s Creek alum Noah Reid as Rapp, a private investigator who arrives in a small coastal town following the disappearance of a young heir to a powerful fishery.

— Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 22 July 2026
The big twist was always going to make or break Sugar, Apple TV’s contemporary neo-noir starring Colin Farrell as a dapper, tender, classic Hollywood–loving private investigator who happens to be a blue-skinned extraterrestrial in human disguise.

— Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 July 2026

Definition of private investigator

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private

private detective

private detectives

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“Private detective.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/private%20detective. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of private detective

noun

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