espionage

CEFRC1

/ˈɛs.pi.əˌnɑːʒ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The secret collection of information about another country or organization.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.

Examples

  • The suspect committed an act of industrial espionage.

  • Tom wasn't put in jail for espionage.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
2
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

More examples

In context

  • 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.

  • 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.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The novel is a thrilling account of international blank during the Cold War.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Recorded since 1793, from French espionnage, from espionner (“to spy”), from Middle French espionner (“to spy”), from espion (“spy”), from Old French espion (“spy”), from Frankish *spehō (“spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to spy, peek, peer”). In modern times, the French pronunciation of the s, which had fallen silent since the 13th century, was restored due to the influence of Italian spione (“spy”), and was therefore also adopted by the English. More at spy.