From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprivate detectiveˌprivate deˈtective noun [countable] BOINVESTIGATEsomeone who can be employed to look for information or missing people, or to follow people and report on what they do
Examples from the Corpus
private detective• Perhaps there had once been a private detective in New York with that name.• Later, an appointment was arranged for a private detective to call at Montpelier Walk.• She wondered if she should hire a private detective to find out who the girl was.• Edward is a private detective hired by an antiques dealer who asked Edward to list all of the valuables in the house.• He had never been inside a police station, had never met a private detective, had never spoken to a criminal.• Robert Crais broke into mystery writing not by being a cop, a lawyer or a private detective.• Kinsey Millhone, leading private detective of Santa Teresa, California. 