Synonyms of espy

espy

verb

i-ˈspī 

as in to notice

to make note of (something) through the use of one's eyes

out of the corner of my eye I espied the squirrel making another raid on the bird feeder

Synonyms & Similar Words

• notice
• see
• spot
• eye
• regard
• sight
• perceive
• descry
• view
• discern
• behold
• remark
• observe
• watch
• look (at)
• witness
• note
• catch
• distinguish
• spy
• set eyes on
• get a load of
• identify
• lay eyes on
• consider
• pick out
• glimpse
• heed
• inspect
• examine
• attend (to)
• scan
• make out
• scrutinize
• mark
• study
• survey
• mind
• glance (at)
• pick up
• peer (at)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• ignore
• disregard
• pass over
• neglect
• miss
• overlook
• overpass

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of espy

The film’s comedy is built from a series of infinitesimal touches and chance intrusions, as when Édouard, espying Charles in the street, leaps from his seat at a sidewalk café and jostles a waiter bearing drinks. — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 9 July 2024

Imprisoned by the Duke of Athens, the cousins espy the beautiful Emilia from their cell—and each man falls immediately in love. — Andrea Mays, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2024

If a basket-hanger was espied by the recipient, the recipient would give chase and try to steal a kiss from the basket-hanger. — Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 30 Jan. 2024

Images taken from different realities, different spaces, times, places that have been sort of cut out and pasted together to create a new scene that depicts something that no human eye would ever have espied. — Philip Martin, Arkansas Online, 13 Mar. 2023

Resentful 1970s émigrés were prodding the West to espy its true enemy not in communism, but in an irredeemable Russia. — Ignat Solzhenitsyn, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2020

The cub tried to sneak up on him, but was quickly espied by the older lion. — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 20 June 2019

For instance, visitors can scan through an electronic infographic for terrariums filled with camouflaging Gulf Coast toads, then head outside onto more than 2 miles of dirt and boardwalk trails to espy the bayou's flora and fauna. — Beau Evans, NOLA.com, 6 Oct. 2017