Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A private personal detective, employed to gather information about someone.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: idiomatic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
someone who can be employed as a detective to collect information
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: private detective, PI, private investigator, operative, shamus, sherlock
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: detective
Narrower terms: hotel detective, house detective, house dick, inquiry agent, store detective
History
From private investigator and its abbreviation PI, through the homophonic term eye in place of "I", and the use of "eye" as a reference to surveillance.
Across languages
7 source translations are retained for this English entry.
