gumshoe

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This year, she’s vying for lead actress in a comedy for her performance as an eccentric gumshoe on the Netflix whodunit “The Residence.”

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 13, 2025

Melling’s scenery-chewing portrayal of the budding writer — and, here, amateur gumshoe — is one of the film’s chief delights.

From Washington Post • Jan. 3, 2023

With Sam Rockwell playing a fedora-wearing gumshoe and Saoirse Ronan as an overeager police constable with an adorable Scottish accent, this looks like one of the most fun comedies of the fall season.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 9, 2022

A few other things, really, including a fish-out-of-water comedy and a twisty detective story, with Ben as both fish and gumshoe.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2022

In literature and in the popular imagination, the all-seeing private eye—the gumshoe, the cinder dick, the sleuthhound, the shadow—displaced the crusading sheriff as the archetype of rough justice.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann