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gumshoe

[guhm-shoo] / ˈgʌmˌʃu /


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 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

Kilpatrick isn’t entirely fresh to the gumshoe storytelling business, having appeared in HBO’s “Perry Mason.”

From Salon Apr. 2, 2024

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

"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

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

When your trades are newspapering and gumshoeing, you tend to meet interesting people from all walks of life.

From Washington Post Mar. 22, 2022

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

When he began gumshoeing, back in 1949, he made $50 a day, and now he charges $100.

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

Before Tim was out of the building Killen was gumshoeing after him.

From The Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine




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