wiretapping 1 of 2

noun

as in eavesdropping

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wiretapping

2 of 2

verb

present participle of wiretap
as in tapping

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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 wiretapping
Noun
Later that year, he was charged with wiretapping, and although authorities did not offer more details, local journalists have reported that the alleged wiretapping was meant to monitor the investigation of his mother. — James Lasdun, New Yorker, 26 May 2026 Under the plan, FISA, which allows warrantless wiretapping of noncitizens, would be extended for three years, with new oversight guardrails and penalties for abusing the spy tool. — Hailey Bullis, The Washington Examiner, 26 Apr. 2026 Michael Gagnon was charged with unlawful wiretapping and violating an abuse prevention order. — Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald, 14 Apr. 2026 The two men planted themselves at the bedside of the ailing Attorney General John Ashcroft to block Bush administration officials from making an end run to get Ashcroft’s permission to reauthorize a secret no-warrant wiretapping program. — Eric Tucker, Chicago Tribune, 21 Mar. 2026 In the decades since, multiple presidents have relied on that congressional mandate to justify a grab bag of military counterterrorism activities, including the detention of people who had not been convicted of a crime at Guantanamo Bay and the secret wiretapping of Americans. — Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026 So prosecutors are being forced to try other methods to establish who fired the gun, including phone tracing, interviews and wiretapping. — Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 22 Feb. 2026 Past disputes have included Australian intelligence wiretapping accusations involving Indonesia's former president, the execution of Australian drug smugglers and tensions over people smuggling. — Niniek Karmini, Arkansas Online, 8 Feb. 2026 The New York Times withheld some details in advance about the US Bay of Pigs invasion, and for months delayed a story on national security administration warrantless wiretapping during the Bush administration after White House officials said the story’s publication would endanger American lives. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 4 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for wiretapping
  1. eavesdropping
  2. tapping
  3. surveillance
  4. bugging
  5. reconnaissance
  6. spying
  7. observation
  8. monitoring
Noun
  • Pearsall, a 59-year-old Long Beach resident, is also facing a criminal case with five felony counts of eavesdropping and more than two dozen misdemeanor counts of secretly filming or unlawful dissemination of private recordings.
    — Sean Emery, Oc Register, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Kevin Pearsall, 59, of Long Beach, faces five felony counts of eavesdropping, 23 misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another and three misdemeanor counts of unlawful dissemination of private recordings.
    — Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of eavesdropping
Verb
  • Like the name suggests, the trend helps to match different makeup aesthetics to the birth months of the year, tapping up your cosmic sign, the season you're born in, and even your birth stone to help determine the perfect makeup look for you.
    — Elle Turner, Glamour, 15 Aug. 2026
  • She’s tasked with apprehending The Puppet Master (Iemasa Kayumi), a hacker who appears to be tapping directly into these networked minds and altering memories.
    — David Faris, TheWeek, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of tapping
Noun
  • Detectives are reviewing additional surveillance videos for more leads.
    — Matthew Ablon, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Equity means ensuring every child has access to what research tells us supports learning, not flooding classrooms with surveillance technology that produces cognitive and emotional debt that will disproportionately harm students of color.
    — Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of surveillance
Verb
  • However, in-flight cabin etiquette is only one part of what’s bugging travelers this summer.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 6 Aug. 2026
  • The necessity of the trip at all is what's been bugging me.
    — Will Greenwald, PC Magazine, 12 June 2026
Definition of bugging
Noun
  • Developed for highly mobile operations on the modern battlefield, the FV-014 combines reconnaissance, target identification and precision strike capabilities within a single system.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 14 Aug. 2026
  • The hackers’ system was built using open-source AI agents to automate and coordinate much of the intrusion, including reconnaissance, credential attacks and strategizing subsequent attack paths, Dream said.
    — John Liu, CNN Money, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of reconnaissance
Verb
  • Just across the sea lie North Korea, China and Russia, which all have powerful spying capacities that Japan isn’t fully equipped to fend off.
    — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 31 July 2026
  • Turkish, Asian and Chinese brands flooded in at first, spying a once-in-a-generation opportunity to hoover up prime real estate.
    — Mark Faithfull, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
Definition of spying
Noun
  • Webb's observations also revealed clear evidence of water within the envelope — the first such detection for IRS 3.
    — Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Lee wrote and directed the installment after spending 10 and a half hours in a Los Angeles hospital, jotting observations into his phone.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of observation
Verb
  • Crytica Security wants to change that by monitoring what happens inside the device itself.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been notified of the recent sightings and has been monitoring bear activity in the region.
    — Richard Ramos, CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of monitoring

Browse Nearby Words

wiretapped
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Cite this Entry

“Wiretapping.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/wiretapping. Accessed 17 Aug. 2026.

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