as in detective
a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons the firm hired a hawkshaw to find out who was fencing stock from their warehouse

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hawkshaw
Noun
  • City detectives and school police collaborated with the office of District Attorney Paul F. Tucker to identify and charge the teenagers involved, Tucker said in a statement.
    Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024
  • As in most — all? — detective fiction, one case reveals another; suspense springs from never knowing exactly where we’re headed.
    Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • The lieutenant also said investigators have taken statements from the dozens of witnesses who were in the area, and are also gathering video surveillance.
    NBC San Diego, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
  • Mike Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, said Thursday that investigators were leaning toward ruling the start of the fire as human-caused.
    Katie Langford, The Denver Post, 10 Nov. 2024
Noun
  • Once there, he gets wrapped up in a mystery, befriends a private eye named Perry (Val Kilmer), and reconnects with Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), a childhood crush.
    Keith Phipps, Vulture, 17 Nov. 2024
  • The indie is set in a near future society ruled by sentient artificial intelligence and has a private eye investigate a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord.
    Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
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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Cite this Entry

“Hawkshaw.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hawkshaw. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

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