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

Anadolu via Getty Images Apple users are starting to receive their share of a $95 million cash payout to settle a class action case alleging Siri eavesdropping. —Kate O'Flaherty, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026

Only a few other animals, like parrots and apes, have demonstrated a knack for this kind of eavesdropping. —Adithi Ramakrishnan, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2026

The surface can be configured to create intentional radio dead zones, a feature that helps mitigate signal interference and reduces the risk of electronic eavesdropping. —Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 28 Dec. 2025

But recording a conversation that a person is not participating in violates the eavesdropping statute, Heath said. —Nushrat Rahman, Freep.com, 6 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1641, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for eavesdropping

• intercropping
• overtopping
• telescoping
• chopping
• copping
• cropping
• dropping
• flopping
• hopping
• lopping
• mopping
• popping