Jump to content
Wiktionary The Free Dictionary

espionage

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit ]

Etymology

[edit ]

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 .

Pronunciation

[edit ]

Noun

[edit ]

espionage (countable and uncountable , plural espionages )

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
  1. The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.
    • 1859, George Meredith, chapter 16, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. [...] , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 2001 February, Stefan A. Pluta, "United States of America v. Robert Philip Hanssen: Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint, Arrest Warrant and Search Warrants", in United States District Court ‎[1] , archived from the original on 30 June 2025, page 3:
      The results of this investigation to date indicate that there is probable cause to believe that, beginning in 1985 and continuing to the present, ROBERT PHILIP HANSSEN (hereinafter "HANSSEN"), a United States citizen, has conspired [...] to commit espionage against the United States on behalf of a foreign government, specifically the Soviet Union or Russia, and has in fact engaged in such espionage.
    • 2003 June 20, Joseph Purdy, "Totally Switched", in Totally Spies! , season 2, episode 19, spoken by Alexandra "Alex" (Andrea Taylor as Clover and Katie Leigh), Marathon Media, via Teletoon:
      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.

Synonyms

[edit ]

Coordinate terms

[edit ]

Derived terms

[edit ]
[edit ]

Translations

[edit ]
act of learning secret information through clandestine means

Anagrams

[edit ]

AltStyle によって変換されたページ (->オリジナル) /