Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The act or practice of spying or of using spies to obtain secret information, as about another government or a business competitor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The practice of spying; secret observation of the acts or utterances of another by a spy or emissary; offensive surveillance.
Wiktionary
- n. The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The practice or employment of spies; the practice of watching the words and conduct of others, to make discoveries, as spies or secret emissaries; secret watching.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the systematic use of spies to get military or political secrets
Etymologies
- Recorded since 1793, from French espionnage, from Middle French espionner ("to spy"), from Old French espion ("spy"), itself probably from a Germanic source (akin to Old High German spehon "spy"), possibly via Italian spione (from spia). More at spy (Wiktionary)
- French espionnage, from espionner, to spy, from Old French espion, spy, from Old Italian spione, of Germanic origin; see spek- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Peruvian-Chilean relations have been generally good of late and Peruvian officials including Defense Minister Luis Alberto Otarola avoided the word "espionage" when questioned by reporters about the arrests of Serain and Pizarro.”
“As far as economic espionage is concerned, no laws were broken in the acquisition of the item.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » The Next iPhone — and the Criminal Law Angle
“Cole engages in espionage, sets up traps and otherwise wreaks havoc with navy ships that wander in his part of the universe.”
“Paranoid and violent U.S. university espionage is closely related to institutional brutality.”
“The one thing allies have always done is engage in espionage against each other, particularly industrial espionage.”
“Mockingbird worked in espionage with SHIELD and who knows who else and just came back from years of abduction, but has no real history with Spidey.”
“Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage, or in terrorist activities, or genocide, or between 1933 and 1945, were involved in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?”
Stupid Questions/Bureaucratic Catch-22s « L.E. Modesitt, Jr. – The Official Website
“He receives training in espionage, in combat, in all manner of spycraft, but when a mysterious “iron fog” begins immobilizing entire CITIES, the time for training is over …”
Hero History: Dynamo | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News
“She is also well-trained in espionage and tactical planning.”
“Bob Ho (Jackie Chan) is an undercover CIA superspy who decides to give up his career in espionage to settle down with his next-door neighbor and girlfriend, Gillian.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘espionage’.
-
probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
-
JURI - crimes and offences
Don't commit any of these if you can
firearms trafficking, serious and organ..., trafficking in hu..., illegal shipment ..., cybercrime, money laundering, sale of counterfe..., sale of dangerous..., smuggling, infraction, corruption, organised crime and 153 more...
-
AFET - diplomacy
broker a peace ac..., client state, deadlocked peace ..., embassy, freeze, goodwill ambassador, hinterland, interfere in dome..., intervene personally, maintain technica..., mediation, no business as usual and 670 more...
-
The -ages of Man(-age)
Trivet also has this list, which you should go see. And then I found this list, and this list...
manage, salvage, selvadge, savage, voyage, umbrage, entourage, homage, carriage, marriage, language, potage and 123 more...
-
EU - Eurovoc - international relations
ABM Agreement, accession to a co..., accession to a tr..., accession to an a..., achievement of peace, ACP-EC Convention, advanced technolo..., aerospace industry, African organisation, aggression, agreement, agricultural coop... and 851 more...
-
dameaning's list
negotiable
hegemony
stalagmite
wont
rasp
riddle
somnambulist
librocubicularisttertiary, constancy, acumen, tinder, confluence, insular, partiality, terse, vanguard, avant guard, irrascible, inverse and 27 more...
-
solutions
one word (preferably / not a must). terms that solved, help solve or theoretically will solve the world's problems (past, present, future).
these can be general, umbrella terms or...veganism, neurotechnology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, globalism, sustainability, laws, ecology, education, immunization, switchgrass, Esperanto and 75 more...
-
Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 2411 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2995 more... -
Need to Know!
elicit, educe, refute, cogency, churlish, martinet, veritable, polyglot, dissemble, histrionics, prevarication, verbiage and 166 more...
-
Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
-
newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for espionage.
sonofgroucho Makes spying sound so glamorous. Nov 30, 2007