private investigator

noun

: a person not a member of a police force who is licensed to do detective work (such as investigation of suspected wrongdoing or searching for missing persons)

Synonyms

• detective
• dick
• gumshoe
• hawkshaw
• investigator
• operative
• private detective
• private eye
• shamus [slang]
• sherlock
• sleuth
• sleuthhound

Examples of private investigator in a Sentence

She hired a private investigator to follow her husband.

the retired policeman decided to become a private investigator

Recent Examples on the Web

As authorities continue searching for her remains, a private investigator is pushing to unseal case records. —Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 6 Apr. 2025

Private Eyes West Coast will see private investigators Matt Shade (Priestley) and Angie Everett (Sampson) solving cases in Victoria, British Columbia. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 18 Mar. 2025

Her turn as savant-like private investigator Holly Gibney in HBO’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Outsider is a remarkable one. —Sezin Koehler, EW.com, 28 Feb. 2025

Davis’ lawyers filed a motion saying new witness testimony from a private investigator could prove that Davis was not in Las Vegas at the time of Shakur’s killing in September 1996. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for private investigator

• accelerator
• accumulator
• adjudicator
• administrator
• appropriator
• articulator
• attenuator
• bronchodilator
• collaborator
• communicator
• conciliator
• cooperator

Kids Definition

private investigator

noun

: a person who does detective work and is not a member of a police force

Legal Definition

private investigator

noun

: a person not a member of a police force who is licensed to do detective work (as investigation of suspected wrongdoing or searching for missing persons)