stake·out
ˈstāk-ˌau̇t 
: a surveillance maintained by the police of an area or a person suspected of criminal activity
staked out; staking out; stakes out
1
: to assign (someone, such as a police officer) to an area usually to conduct a surveillance
2
: to maintain a stakeout of
The police are staking out a building where criminal activity is suspected.
3
: to claim as one's own
staked out the biggest bedroom as his
4
: to mark the limits of (an area) with stakes
staking out where the shed will be built
5
: to state (one's opinion) in a very clear and definite way
She staked out her position on the issue in the speech.
Examples of stakeout in a Sentence
Noun
The drug deal was witnessed during a stakeout of the building.
The police were on a stakeout.
Recent Examples on the Web
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2025
Ahead of the vote, the representatives of more than four dozen countries gathered at a media stakeout to show support for both the Gang Suppression Force, GSF, and the U.N. Support Office.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 22 Dec. 2025
In the ongoing ideological debates between liberalism and its critics, Sunstein masterfully stakes out and defends the tradition’s high ground, a vision of liberal society equipped with a living constitution that protects the rights and dignity of individuals and the free play of ideas.
—Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stakeout
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Noun
At one point, the camera slow-zooms in on the suspect’s house, while Shackleton details a stakeout.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 21 Nov. 2025
Ahead of the vote, the representatives of more than four dozen countries gathered at a media stakeout to show support for both the Gang Suppression Force, GSF, and the U.N. Support Office.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 30 Sep. 2025
Verb
Hanaway has also staked out positions that have appealed to her conservative base on a host of other issues in recent weeks.
—Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 22 Dec. 2025
In the ongoing ideological debates between liberalism and its critics, Sunstein masterfully stakes out and defends the tradition’s high ground, a vision of liberal society equipped with a living constitution that protects the rights and dignity of individuals and the free play of ideas.
—Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for stakeout
Cite this Entry
“Stakeout.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stakeout. Accessed 25 Dec. 2025.
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