as in detective
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons
the popular TV sleuth lives a much more action-packed life than do his real-world counterparts
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Recent Examples of sleuth
Ella Maisy Purvis is fantastic as the sleuth.
—
Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 25 Jan. 2026
Deadline broke the news in November that Peacock had decided not to renew the crime series for a third season, but that the Knives Out filmmaker was planning to reset the series with Dinklage taking over the role of crime-solving sleuth from Natasha Lynonne and setting it up at a new home.
—Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 23 Jan. 2026
But in making certain allegations about his mother’s behavior before and during the wedding, held at the Peltz family’s Palm Beach estate, Brooklyn Beckham also has opened himself to serious fact-checking by online sleuths, according to the BBC.
—Martha Ross, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
But while British sleuths wear raincoats or umbrellas, Erica is more suited for a beautiful French scarf.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 19 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sleuth
Rich Heldenfels, Boston Herald, 25 Jan. 2026
Deadline broke the news in November that Peacock had decided not to renew the crime series for a third season, but that the Knives Out filmmaker was planning to reset the series with Dinklage taking over the role of crime-solving sleuth from Natasha Lynonne and setting it up at a new home.
—Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 23 Jan. 2026
But in making certain allegations about his mother’s behavior before and during the wedding, held at the Peltz family’s Palm Beach estate, Brooklyn Beckham also has opened himself to serious fact-checking by online sleuths, according to the BBC.
—Martha Ross, Mercury News, 20 Jan. 2026
But while British sleuths wear raincoats or umbrellas, Erica is more suited for a beautiful French scarf.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 19 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for sleuth
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sleuth
Noun
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Late on December 22, for example, mere hours after the shooting, detectives visited Barry and James, both of them still in the ER with conditions listed as critical, to record their official statements.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
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Sheldon Williams was a city paramedic in the 1990s and also served as a police detective for 14 years and had been teaching recently at Pitt's emergency medicine program as well as consulting for the Department of Homeland Security and with FEMA.—
Chilekasi Adele,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The report showed that the crash — like most crashes — wasn’t caused by one issue but instead by a cascading series of problems, former NTSB investigator Anthony Brickhouse told The Charlotte Observer.—
Joe Marusak,
Charlotte Observer,
31 Jan. 2026
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Police soon cleared Piercy after his story checked out, and investigators say he could be heard on the 911 call doing CPR and trying to save Katlyn.—
Megan Kelly Brown,
CBS News,
31 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sleuth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sleuth. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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