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
Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. IsraelFor 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
Rick RiordanExamples of eavesdropping in a Sentence
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In 2004, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card tried to persuade Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was ill with acute pancreatitis, to reauthorize a warrantless eavesdropping program while in his hospital bed.
—Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025
Last September, this second Russian eavesdropping satellite maneuvered close to an Intelsat satellite named Intelsat 10-02, coming as close as 1 kilometer (about 3,300 feet) from it in January, according to a CSIS space threat assessment.
—Benj Edwards, ArsTechnica, 25 Sep. 2025
The agreement comes after intense scrutiny over China’s intelligence operations in Cuba, after earlier reports in 2023 that Beijing and Havana might have inked a deal to build a new eavesdropping site.
—Nora Gamez Torres, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2025
Colleagues would talk for hours with the powerful and the secretive; a conversation with Julian Assange required technological methods that we were not permitted to discuss, to discourage eavesdropping.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
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Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 26 Sep. 2025
Last September, this second Russian eavesdropping satellite maneuvered close to an Intelsat satellite named Intelsat 10-02, coming as close as 1 kilometer (about 3,300 feet) from it in January, according to a CSIS space threat assessment.
—Benj Edwards, ArsTechnica, 25 Sep. 2025
The agreement comes after intense scrutiny over China’s intelligence operations in Cuba, after earlier reports in 2023 that Beijing and Havana might have inked a deal to build a new eavesdropping site.
—Nora Gamez Torres, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2025
Colleagues would talk for hours with the powerful and the secretive; a conversation with Julian Assange required technological methods that we were not permitted to discuss, to discourage eavesdropping.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for eavesdropping
Cite this Entry
“Eavesdropping.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eavesdropping. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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