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surveillance

noun

sər-ˈvā-lən(t)s How to pronounce surveillance (audio)
Definition of surveillancenext
1
as in stewardship
the duty or function of watching or guarding for the sake of proper direction or control a neutral country charged with the surveillance of the post-war rebuilding effort

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in watch
an act or period of watching for signs of activity, danger, or opportunity government surveillance of suspected terrorists

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 surveillance Americans have a strong distaste for government surveillance, Stanley said. — Meg Anderson, NPR, 5 Sep. 2026 Investigator Dan Van Lanen of the Hobart/Lawrence Police Department said in the report that content from a video surveillance system inside Jacobs’ garage corroborates the altercation the woman described. — Devon Henderson, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2026 Some groups have raised concern that people who attend political protests or rallies could be subject to surveillance. — Victoria Hoffmann, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Sep. 2026 Police are combing through surveillance videos to try to determine the identity of the individuals, KTLA 5 reported. — Kc Baker, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for surveillance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surveillance
  1. stewardship
  2. watch
  3. supervision
  4. lookout
  5. oversight
  6. management
  7. control
  8. policing
Noun
  • Trump’s reaction today to Cooper’s decision—both online and before the board—underscores the bargain that has defined his stewardship of the Kennedy Center.
    — Janay Kingsberry, The Atlantic, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Many invest millions of dollars into upgrades, infrastructure improvements, and long-term stewardship of their properties.
    — Jeff Cook, New York Daily News, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of stewardship
Noun
  • The famed artist, known for his vibrant, playful sculptures of inflatable pups (one of which fetched over $58 million at auction in 2013), has teamed up with Hublot to turn his creations into a collection of watches.
    — Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Citi reiterates Meta as buy Citi added a positive catalyst watch on stock ahead of its Meta Connect conference.
    — Michael Bloom, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of watch
Noun
  • Leaders need to know who is responsible for clinical validation, bias assessment, regulatory compliance, vendor oversight, explainability, human supervision and ongoing performance monitoring.
    — Anri Amir David, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Tesla’s own documentation states that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving require active driver supervision and are not autonomous driving systems.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of supervision
Noun
  • Steps lead up to the lookout bar, an elevated speakeasy with panoramic views that half of Vienna is queuing up for right now.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The couple hires Caleb as a lookout and braves his sullen outbursts, learning more about the lonely, angry youth as the murders draw nearer.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of lookout
Noun
  • The president was pushing back against calls by tech leaders such as Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceXAI's Elon Musk to have greater government oversight of AI.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Those that treat it as a workflow, training-data and clinician-oversight problem are better positioned to get durable value out of it while still managing the residual risk.
    — Pat Williams, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of oversight
Noun
  • That additional signal could allow existing battery management systems to estimate state of charge more accurately as a battery operates.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Put simply, Chinese EVs are just better than a lot of the competition, says Howard Yu, a professor of management and innovation at IMD Business School and codirector of the Future Readiness program, which evaluates global car manufacturers.
    — Sam Forsdick, Fortune, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of management
Noun
  • The tight ends can get back to blurring the run and the pass, with Stafford at the controls and Kyren Williams and Corum wearing defenses down between the tackles.
    — Nate Atkins, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
  • American anti-immigrant politics consequently differs from the European version, remaining more closely bound to the Monroe Doctrine and its vision of hemispheric control.
    — Faisal Devji, Time, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of control
Noun
  • Local police chiefs and sheriffs and their national organizations need to speak up and be willing to say that federal immigration enforcement cannot be allowed to undermine local policing.
    — Karl W. Bickel, Baltimore Sun, 14 Sep. 2026
  • In other words, institutions created for external war, border enforcement, and domestic policing have now become components of a punitive system against immigrants who may not even have a criminal record.
    — Daniel Benjamin, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of policing

Browse Nearby Words

surveil
surveillance
surveillances
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Surveillance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surveillance. Accessed 19 Sep. 2026.

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