eavesdropping

noun

eaves·​drop·​ping ˈēvz-ˌdrä-piŋ 

: the act of secretly listening to something private

Highly sophisticated means of electronic eavesdropping were developed and put into use, largely uncontrolled by the law.

—Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. Israel

For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

—Rick Riordan

Examples of eavesdropping in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These payloads have primarily included NRO eavesdropping satellites and the massive bus-size Keyhole imaging platforms, essentially Hubble-class telescopes pointed at Earth. —Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 27 Mar. 2024

Also at Chabahar, China is breaking ground on a regional eavesdropping post that would allow China to intercept signals within a range of around 3,000 miles. —Jamsheed K. Choksy, Foreign Affairs, 17 Nov. 2020

Last month, articles appeared on two of Mr. Dougan’s newer fake sites, The Houston Post and The Flagstaff Post, detailing a baseless claim that the F.B.I. had planted an eavesdropping device in Mr. Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. —Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, 29 May 2024

The intelligence has been gleaned from hard drives, cellphones, laptops, maps and other material seized during Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip, as well as electronic eavesdropping conducted by the U.S., the sources said. —Dan De Luce, NBC News, 21 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1641, in the meaning defined above