Synonyms of private eye

private eye

noun

as in detective

a person not on the police force who investigates criminal or illicit activity or searches for missing persons

unable to get the interest of the police, they hired a private eye to find their missing daughter

Synonyms & Similar Words

• detective
• investigator
• private detective
• private investigator
• operative
• dick
• hawkshaw
• sleuth
• sleuthhound
• gumshoe
• shamus
• sherlock
• tracer
• tracker
• tail
• Federal
• fed
• shadow
• nark
• plainclothesman
• narc
• G-man

Examples of private eye in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Meanwhile, Ruby meets up with Miller (Paul Schulze) in a secluded woodsy spot to have a cryptic discussion about what to do with their resident private eye with a heart of gold. —Andy Andersen, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2024

But his tenacious and loopy ex-wife, the private eye Fiona (Gordon), could foil their master plan. —Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2024

Whether her character was a nurse, an inmate in a Philippine prison, a Nubian warrior, or a private eye in Kentucky, Grier always found time to put a hurting on any man or woman who provoked her. —Odie Henderson, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024

In 1861, a widow named Kate Warne was working with Allan Pinkerton as America’s first female private eye. —Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, 18 July 2024