prying

[prahy-ing]

adjective

1. that pries; looking or searching curiously.

2. impertinently or unnecessarily curious or inquisitive.

   Synonyms: nosy

Other Word Forms

• pryingly adverb
• pryingness noun
• unprying adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prying¹

First recorded in 1950–55; pry ¹ + -ing ²

Synonym Study

See curious.

Example Sentences

The banking secrecy laws, now much diluted, were designed to shield an individual's personal finances from the prying eyes of the state.

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Via a Middle East investment company, Assets Group, the Qataris are currently building an exclusive, 40-villa luxury resort there, with an upgraded concrete airstrip capable of receiving executive jets, far from prying eyes.

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She posted images of city workers prying out the two figures from the bench and the bronzed Castro and Guevara being ignominiously hauled away in a bulldozer.

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Secreted inside the technobabble dust jacket was a Polish-language copy of George Orwell’s “1984,” the boring cover a deliberate misdirection to deter prying eyes.

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But that is only initial assessment and labelled as "low confidence" – the tag comes because it is early days in trying to understand what happened at a place which is deliberately hidden from prying eyes.

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