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.
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Farrell is terrific, as always, as an empathetic gumshoe investigating a trail of crime and corruption that rings true to devotees of L.A. noir, from Raymond Chandler to “Chinatown” to Jordan Harper.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
The cops are jaded and too easily steered toward the wrong suspects, moving the gentle citizen gumshoe to step in and offer her gifted expertise.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
The play, which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2022, brings audiences viscerally into the gumshoe work of archivists and researchers who authenticate, clarify and preserve artifacts of history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 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
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
Then he gumshoed around the neighborhood and found that Ohman, though uneducated in a formal sense, was a smart man who often expressed an urge to fool the scholars.
From Time Magazine Archive
Today there are spooky gumshoed armies of "security consultants," "rent-a-cops," "private eyes," "outside experts"—every manner of shady operator who retails in "results" and discretion.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Bruce Sterling
"Has that grasping old monopolist gumshoed into town again?" inquired Washburn, and promptly ordered his secretary to get Boise on the telephone.
From Five Thousand an Hour : how Johnny Gamble won the heiress by George Randolph Chester
When your trades are newspapering and gumshoeing, you tend to meet interesting people from all walks of life.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 22, 2022
Last week, run down at last by dogged gumshoeing, Mr. Grey went to trial in Manhattan's General Sessions Court on charges of tampering with boxing.
From Time Magazine Archive
His idea of Ken apparently savored too much of historical study, and not enough of gumshoeing to suit Messrs. Smart & Gingrich.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Yemen case was a rare, real-time example of resourceful gumshoeing, timely intelligence and open communication among government agencies.
From Time Magazine Archive
You don't go gumshoeing it around behind a fellow's back, and talking the same way.
From Guy Garrick by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve
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