Definition of overhearnext
as in to hear
to listen to (another in private conversation) it's not polite to try to overhear intimate friends sharing confidences

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 overhear With the festival’s first weekend coinciding with the Brazilian presidential elections, almost every conversation overheard at RioMarket during the event’s early days was intertwined with politics. — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 12 Oct. 2026 Bottega Veneta That, or people whose conversations you’d really like to overhear. — Joan Kennedy, Vogue, 12 Oct. 2026 Morales recalled overhearing Ramirez on the phone in January confiding in someone about her troubled relationship. — Theodore Parisienne, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026 One morning at school, Frida spies bruises on Elia’s back and overhears her and Emmanuel talking about having been disciplined by their parents. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 8 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for overhear
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overhear
Verb
  • Bono, on the other hand, believed their message could only achieve its highest goal when heard by as many people as possible.
    — Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 12 Nov. 2026
  • Cancer June 21 – July 22 Someone’s certainty could be making your own question harder to hear.
    — Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, a British military agency that monitors maritime safety, said a tanker was involved in an incident while transiting the strait.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 12 Nov. 2026
  • How Wednesday’s incident unfolded Hunt said that some people affiliated with Migra Watch, which monitors ICE through NorCal Resist, followed immigration agents to the Moss building earlier Wednesday before Masias’ detainment and hospitalization.
    — Graham Womack, Sacbee.com, 12 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • Back in virtual Brooklyn, Friday sneaks into Jocasta’s loft to spy as Jocasta works through a heaping helping of foreshadowing about her phantom partner on the Nest nanobots.
    — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2026
  • But in other races in Ohio, Democrats spy a clear opportunity.
    — Naomi Nix, Time, 29 Oct. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Overhear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overhear. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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