shamuses

noun

plural of shamus, slang
1
as in policemen
a member of a force charged with law enforcement at the local level a hard-bitten L.A. shamus who, when he's not battling crooks, is locking horns with his superiors

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in detectives
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons he's a shamus who mostly finds evidence to use in divorce cases

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for shamuses
  1. policemen
  2. detectives
  3. officers
  4. investigators
  5. cops
  6. private detectives
  7. constables
  8. private investigators
Noun
  • People began rioting in Los Angeles’ predominantly Black Watts neighborhood after a crowd watched White policemen forcefully subdue a Black man.
    — USA Today, USA Today, 28 July 2026
  • Over the weekend, dozens of plain-clothes policemen entered the protest site and dragged Wangchuk into an ambulance.
    — Omkar Khandekar, NPR, 20 July 2026
Definition of policemen
Noun
  • Farinacci often spent days and even weeks scouting potential fire locations, monitoring weather and wildfire data, and planning to set multiple fires to stretch firefighting resources thin, according to detectives.
    — Cindy Von Quednow, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detectives have launched an investigation after a man was found dead in Santa Clarita on Sunday morning.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of detectives
Noun
  • The race has been shaped by the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, confrontations that were caught on camera and fueled a backlash to Trump’s immigration policies.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The judge also said ICE officers did not follow procedures established to ensure due process.
    — Adam Thompson, CBS News, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of officers
Noun
  • But Davis’s book is part of a flurry of statements and interviews that, investigators say, taken together amount to an admission he was involved in the murder.
    — Andy Rose, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
  • The boyfriend of a 2-year-old boy's mother is facing felony charges after investigators accused him of hiding the child's body in the woods behind a Marietta apartment complex and lying to police.
    — CBS News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026
Definition of investigators
Noun
  • Bad cops are not being fired, and good cops who may be wrongfully accused are stuck in professional purgatory.
    — Sam Charles, Chicago Tribune, 3 Aug. 2026
  • On Monday, 21-year-old Javid Edwin, accompanied by a lawyer, surrendered at the 50th Precinct stationhouse and was charged with murder, manslaughter and weapon possession, cops said.
    — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of cops
Noun
  • Meanwhile, private detectives probed Hadley’s vulnerabilities as a witness.
    — Heidi Blake, New Yorker, 8 June 2026
  • The trio took the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles as part of a PaleyFest event commemorating five decades of Charlie's Angels, the groundbreaking ABC series that followed a group of female private detectives.
    — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Apr. 2026
Definition of private detectives
Noun
  • The woman was able to flee the scene and located deputy constables.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 15 July 2026
  • Troopers and Beacon Falls constables responded to the home and detained Drozdowski, state police said.
    — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 6 May 2026
Definition of constables
Noun
  • Harry and the six other high-profile claimants failed to prove their allegations that the publisher unlawfully obtained private information through methods including private investigators, deception, phone hacking and corrupt payments.
    — Erin Hill, PEOPLE, 7 July 2026
  • Depending on the circumstances, this may include private investigators, attorneys, cybersecurity professionals, exchanges, regulators or law enforcement agencies.
    — Jon Stojan June 23, Miami Herald, 23 June 2026
Definition of private investigators
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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shamus
shamuses
shanghai
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Cite this Entry

“Shamuses.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shamuses. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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