lurking

verb

present participle of lurk
1
as in sneaking
to move about in a sly or secret manner we caught a glimpse of someone lurking around the corner

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in hiding
to remain out of sight watch out for snakes lurking in the tall grass

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lurking But for Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), the local personalities pale in comparison to the evils lurking beneath the cursed island’s surface. — Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2026 The thinking was that app permissions are so granular that malware lurking on the device would have no ability to access the private keys that form the lynchpin of passkey security. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 11 Aug. 2026 And don’t be afraid to protect yourself and your skin from all those sneaky germs lurking around you, hemlines aside. — Kara Nesvig, Allure, 10 Aug. 2026 Statum has heard horror-stories about predators lurking on Instagram or Snapchat. — ABC News, 8 Aug. 2026 However, with so many items lurking in your cabinets, keeping your cabinets in tip-top shape can sometimes seem more difficult than making crème brûlée from scratch. — Kelsey Mulvey, Southern Living, 8 Aug. 2026 The fourth member of the household is Terry’s lurking aide, an androgynous aesthete named Steven (theater producer Jordan Roth, playing up the character’s feline strangeness). — Judy Berman, Time, 5 Aug. 2026 The problem is that the Guardians were lurking, had a spectacular September, and took down the AL Central. — David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026 There’s something lurking in the waters off the coast of Newfoundland in Netflix‘s latest drama series Below. — Katie Campione, Deadline, 28 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lurking
  1. sneaking
  2. hiding
  3. slipping
  4. lying
  5. sliding
Verb
  • The fact that each tally mark was a dollar in the band’s pocket, and that sneaking in was essentially stealing money from them, also didn’t faze us.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Acknowledge your child’s feelings, then follow through with your goodbye instead of sneaking away.
    — Ashley Lynch, Sacbee.com, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of sneaking
Verb
  • Risk intelligence gives marketplaces visibility into emerging threats as well as those hiding in plain sight.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • In videos posted to his Instagram account, Gallegos can be seen hiding underneath a table as plumes of dust burst in the air and parts of the ceiling crashed into the ground.
    — Nicole Acevedo, NBC news, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of hiding
Verb
  • The blockbuster pop release climbs on five of those six rankings, slipping only on the Official Albums Streaming tally.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
  • More drones and missiles are slipping through both sides’ fraying air defenses, meaning that the civilian death toll has increased, and more critical infrastructure is being damaged.
    — Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of slipping
Verb
  • Hair that's accustomed to lying one way naturally gains height when flipped in the opposite direction, while the sweeping fringe creates softness and fullness around the face.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 11 Aug. 2026
  • So a lying government which pursues different goals at different times has constantly to rewrite its own history.
    — David Denby, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of lying
Verb
  • These guys might do much of the unglamorous work that goes unnoticed, breaking up play, playing short passes and sliding across into position to snuff out counter-attacks, but their role is highly valued in the transfer market.
    — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2026
  • An Intensity Slider – a simple sliding bar adjustment for controlling the depth, vibrancy, brightness and contrast of the TV’s pictures to compensate for viewing angles, onscreen reflections and simply different viewing tastes.
    — John Archer, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of sliding

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Cite this Entry

“Lurking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lurking. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of lurking for Spanish Speakers

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