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