How to Use private eye in a Sentence

private eye

noun
Definition of private eyenext
Synonyms for private eyenext
  • Was the victim, an out-of-town private eye, killed by a bear or a man?
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 10 Dec. 2020
  • The old private eye office was maybe 600 square feet in size.
    — Larry Buchanan, New York Times, 11 Mar. 2023
  • Moura sat down with the private eyes who had been working the case for nearly a decade.
    — CBS News, 6 July 2019
  • Tell me about the creation of the private eye Frank Burly, the lead character in all but two of your novels.
    — Mike Sacks, The New Yorker, 2 May 2021
  • The private eye drove to Black Earth — about 70 miles west of Watertown — to talk with the waitresses.
    — Gina Barton, jsonline.com, 20 Sep. 2017
  • What Bardo learned from a private eye, stalkers can now find with a click.
    — Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2024
  • His brother told them that Uman was in the Tennyson doing private eye work.
    — Lawrence Mower, miamiherald, 26 Jan. 2018
  • Also, my second ex is a private eye and owes me a favor.
    — Meghana Indurti, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2022
  • In the era of the heroic private eye, when cops worked in concert with them and often deferred to them, few loomed larger than Burns.
    — Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times, 26 June 2024
  • Roundtree was best known for his portrayal of private eye John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft, leading him to be known as the first Black action hero.
    — Conor Murray, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
  • No private eye boils harder than this vintage tough guy.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 17 Mar. 2023
  • Starring Gene Hackman as a private eye hired to track down a teenager, played by Melanie Griffith.
    — Nina Metz, chicagotribune.com, 14 Sep. 2017
  • Carmack hired a private eye last year to follow and record the mayor’s movements away from city hall.
    — Joe Guillen, Detroit Free Press, 23 Dec. 2019
  • John Oates is proud of his time as one half of the musical duo Hall & Oates, but these days his private eyes are looking forward, not back.
    — Jessica Wang, EW.com, 27 Dec. 2023
  • Both characters were private eyes, and Blessing's could shrink in size to six inches.
    — Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Dec. 2017
  • In this turn, kick-ass private eye Cass must find a missing teenage girl in the middle of a Midwestern winter before the Bad Guys find her.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 14 July 2021
  • All the Chandler books are great, but there’s something about the private eye that’s very similar to the comedian.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 9 July 2024
  • Vlautin recounted in his private eye-like office in St. Johns.
    — oregonlive, 2 Apr. 2021
  • The plot starts with a familiar refrain: Woman walks into private eye’s office and wants a killing solved.
    — cleveland, 2 Aug. 2021
  • If there was ever a better private eye novel written than this one ...
    — The Week Staff, The Week, 10 Apr. 2023
  • Qualley will play a private eye, Plaza will star as a mysterious woman and Evans will portray the leader of a cult.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Jan. 2024
  • Encyclopedia Brown was an 11-year-old private eye who worked out of his garage, and the kids from his neighborhood could come and hire him for a quarter.
    — James Hibberd, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2019
  • Verlander and Upton met while filming a commercial a few years ago and were unable to keep their romance out of the private eye.
    — Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Los Angeles, Reckless centers on a private eye called Ethan Reckless who’ll take care of problems … for a price.
    — Graeme McMillan, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Aug. 2020
  • That's where a private eye working for Kerri discovered the couple.
    — Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 4 July 2020
  • Since then, Parks has dated casually, but she's mostly kept her romances away from the private eye.
    — Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 15 Feb. 2024
  • The private eye told Doug that Ashley was seeing another man and in November 2019, Doug filed for divorce.
    — Jim Axelrod, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2021
  • Armstrong is not a cop or a private eye but a pest removal specialist who once served hard time for feeding the hand of a poacher to an alligator.
    — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 25 Aug. 2020
  • He was intrigued by the private eye character, envisioning the role as a Sydney Greenstreet type with a Panama suit and hat.
    — Chris Koseluk, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Mar. 2024
  • Moments later, the car flipped around and pulled up next to the private eye, while the passenger, alleged to be Flournoy, attempted to wrestle the camera away, court documents state.
    — Megan Cassidy, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Feb. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'private eye.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: