espionage
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Recorded since 1793, borrowed from French espionnage, from Middle French espionner (“to spy”), from Old French espion (“spy”), itself probably from a Germanic source (akin to Old High German spehon (“spy”)), possibly via Italian spione (from spia). More at spy.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
espionage (countable and uncountable, plural espionages)
- The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.
- 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 16:
- So intolerable did Heavy Benson's espionage become, that Raynham would have grown depopulated of its womankind had not Adrian interfered, who pointed out to the Baronet what a fearful arm his butler was wielding.
- 2003 June 20, Joseph Purdy, “Totally Switched”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 19, Teletoon, Marathon Media, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Andrea Taylor as Clover and Katie Leigh):
- What a freak show! I mean, how often do you meet a wrestling librarian?
Yeah, about as often as you meet a high schoolgirl involved in international espionage… Okay, bad example.
- 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 16:
Synonyms[edit]
Coordinate terms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
act of learning secret information through clandestine means
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Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *speḱ-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Germanic languages
- English terms derived from Italian
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Espionage