espionage
/ˈɛs.pi.əˌnɑːʒ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.47 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
- "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."
Etymology
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.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *speḱ-, espionnage, espionner, espion, *spehō, *spehōn