surveillance
Americannoun
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a watch kept over a person, group, etc., especially over a suspect, prisoner, or the like.
The suspects were under police surveillance.
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continuous observation of a place, person, group, or ongoing activity in order to gather information.
video cameras used for covert surveillance.
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attentive observation, as to oversee and direct someone or something.
increased surveillance of patients with chronic liver disease.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of surveillance
1790–1800; < French, equivalent to surveill ( er ) to watch over ( sur- sur- 1 + veiller < Latin vigilāre to watch; see vigil) + -ance -ance
Explanation
Many times, a person suspected of something illegal by the authorities is placed under surveillance, meaning he or she is closely watched to see if their suspicions are well-founded. If you break down the word surveillance you get the prefix sur, from the French word for "over" and the root veiller, meaning "to watch." All of which is a roundabout way of saying that if you are under surveillance, you are being closely watched — usually by the authorities, and usually not for a good reason! Those surveillance cameras in banks and stores are put there in the hopes of both preventing crimes and recognizing criminals after a crime has been committed.
Vocabulary lists containing surveillance
John F. Kennedy's Address to the American People on the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
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This Week In Words: August 1–6, 2020
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The immediate consequences of expiration remain uncertain, however, because surveillance operations under Section 702 are authorized through annual certifications approved by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
Surveillance footage at the Mexico border obtained by a local news outlet appears to show a Los Angeles man and his 5-year-old daughter who was the subject of an Amber Alert this week.
From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026
Surveillance footage showed him holding a phone to his ear shortly before the robbery.
From Slate • May 20, 2026
Data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results report show that the median age at cancer diagnosis is 67.
From Science Daily • May 12, 2026
Surveillance cameras were mounted in every room in the IOI complex, but that apparently wasn’t enough.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
