listen in

listened in; listening in; listens in

Definition of listen in

intransitive verb

1 : to tune in to or monitor a broadcast

2 : to listen to a conversation without participating in it especially : eavesdrop

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Examples of listen in in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His plainclothes security agents loiter and listen in cafes and hotel lobbies. — David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, "A Police State With an Islamist Twist: Inside Hifter’s Libya," 20 Feb. 2020 Back then, bugging—or listening in on conversations with electronic devices—was a powerful and relatively new espionage tool, but some places remained harder to reach than others. — David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, "In the 1970s, the CIA Created a Robot Dragonfly Spy. Now We Know How It Works.," 18 Feb. 2020 Voiceovers not only suggest that the Argentine government was involved — some point out that Iranian spies were tracking and listening in on Nisman. — Alejandra Salazar, refinery29.com, "What Happened To Alberto Nisman From Netflix’s Nisman: The Prosecutor, The President & The Spy?," 1 Jan. 2020 According to reports, James’ teammates listened in. — Chris Fedor, cleveland, "LeBron James breaks silence on Kobe Bryant’s death, promises to continue Bryant’s legacy," 28 Jan. 2020 Vindman had, as part of his duties, listened in on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy, which was at the heart of the impeachment inquiry. — NBC News, "Vindman, who provided key impeachment testimony, 'escorted' from White House, attorney says," 7 Feb. 2020 During meetings, Delany would leave his office door open, so Warren could listen in if the subject were pertinent. — Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star, "IU is first stop on new Big Ten commissioner's 14-college tour," 29 Jan. 2020 The Slump God, whose songs racked up more than 700 million listens in close to 80 countries in 2019, was scheduled to close out his 30-date The Stokeley Tour at the Fillmore Miami Beach on Wednesday night. — Brett Clarkson, sun-sentinel.com, "XXXTentacion’s baby son Gekyume was on stage at Ski Mask The Slump God’s concert," 11 Dec. 2019 The president took the call from the White House residence, while officials in the Situation Room listened in and worked to keep a record of the conversation, as is standard practice. — Zeke Miller, Twin Cities, "‘Do us a favor’: Trump prodded Ukraine leader to investigate Bidens, memo shows," 25 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'listen in.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near listen in

listening device

Statistics for listen in

Last Updated

18 Mar 2020

Cite this Entry

“Listen in.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/listen%20in. Accessed 30 Mar. 2020.

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