espionage

American  

[es-pee-uh-nahzh, -nij, es-pee-uh-nahzh] / ˈɛs pi əˌnɑʒ, -nɪdʒ, ˌɛs pi əˈnɑʒ /

noun

1. the act or practice of spying.

2. the use of spies by a government to discover the military and political secrets of other nations.

3. the use of spies by a corporation or the like to acquire the plans, technical knowledge, etc., of a competitor.

   industrial espionage.

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espionage British  

/ ˌɛspɪəˈnɑːʒ, ˈɛspɪəˌnɑːʒ, ˈɛspɪənɪdʒ /

noun

1. the systematic use of spies to obtain secret information, esp by governments to discover military or political secrets

2. the act or practice of spying

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Other Word Forms

• nonespionage noun

Etymology

Origin of espionage

First recorded in 1785–95; from French espionnage, Middle French espionage, from espionn(er) “to spy” (derivative of espion “a spy,” from Italian spione, from Germanic ) + -age -age; espy

Example Sentences

Later charged with espionage, the couple from East Sussex are now in Tehran's Evin prison.

From BBC

Last June, Denmark's Supreme Court ruled against extraditing to Ukraine a Russian national suspected of espionage for Moscow.

From BBC

Iran and Israel, long-standing adversaries, have regularly accused each other of espionage.

From Barron's

The allegations against Sun amounted to a subtle kind of foreign influence rather than spying or espionage.

From The Wall Street Journal

U.S. lawmakers have warned the U.K. that China could use the embassy to step up espionage and harassment of critics abroad.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• intelligence