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What is a voyeur?
Voyeur is a fairly recent addition to English; our earliest written evidence for the word dates from the beginning of the 20th century. It comes directly from a French noun meaning, literally, “one who sees.”
Initially, voyeur referred to someone who derived sexual pleasure from watching others undress or engage in intimate acts; it was synonymous with Peeping Tom. By the middle of the 20th century, its meaning had broadened to "an unduly prying observer," particularly one interested in squalid or shocking details:
[A] good biographer is always in some sense a voyeur.–Times Literary Supplement, November 5, 1971
Is a press that pries into a presidential aspirant’s personal habits pandering to voyeurs or enlightening rightfully curious voters? –Saturday Review, February 16, 1980
Examples of voyeur in a Sentence
Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 28 May 2026
Perhaps, in smuggling trans allegories, voyeur theory, kink-positive feminism and transgressive fantasy roleplay into the candy wrapper of a movie about remaking a movie about a deranged serial murderer with a box on his head, Jane Schoenbrun has done just that.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 13 May 2026
Its patio seems purpose-built for voyeurs rather than sunseekers.
—Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 May 2026
Alma lives in a large, cavernous farmhouse in northern Germany that is both a hide-and-seeker’s playground and a voyeur’s delight.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for voyeur
Cite this Entry
“Voyeur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voyeur. Accessed 5 Jun. 2026.
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