surveillance
/sɚˈveɪ.ləns/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.17 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The surveillance program includes at least 480 LPRs that scan and record about 16.2 million vehicles per week and stores that data for two years, he wrote in the court filing."
- "Lady Anne appeared in a week or two to have greatly recovered her appetite, and she talked much of the benefit derived from her native air, in order to gain which, she constantly drove out in Lord Rotheles's carriages, and appeared to derive comfort from her admiration of his beautiful bays; beyond this Helen could not perceive that her airings were useful, as her cough increased exceedingly, and all the visitants at the castle expressed surprise "that she did not place herself under the surveillance of one or other of the great physicians of the metropolis.""
- "The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty."
- "Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued."
- "And that sight will become more common in the coming years, as the city’s police pursue an ambitious campaign to install thousands of cameras to elevate their surveillance capabilities."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Italic *super Latin super Latin super- Old French sur- Proto-Indo-European *weǵ-der. Proto-Indo-European *weǵlis Proto-Italic *weglis Latin vigil Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin vigilōder. Latin vigilāre Vulgar Latin *viglāre Old French veillier Old French surveillier French surveiller Proto-Indo-European *-onts Latin -ns Latin -āns Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin -āntia Old French -ance Middle French -ance French -ance French surveillancebor. English surveillance Unadapted borrowing from French surveillance (“a watching over, overseeing, supervision”), from surveiller (“to watch, oversee”), from sur- (“over”) + veiller (“to watch”), from Middle French, from Old French veillier (“to stay awake”), from Latin vigilāre (“to be watchful”). More at vigilant.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: vigilō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sɚˈveɪ.ləns/
- British English: /səˈveɪ.ləns/