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

When Anthropic recently disclosed a cyber espionage campaign that used artificial intelligence to execute much of the attack autonomously, headlines framed it as a new, uncontrollable threat.

From The Wall Street Journal

British couple Lindsay and Craig Foreman have been sentenced in Iran to 10 years in prison for espionage, their family have said.

From BBC

The CIA’s efforts in China were devastated when nearly two dozen assets were executed or imprisoned more than a decade ago, leaving the agency struggling to rebuild its human espionage capabilities in China.

From The Wall Street Journal

Intelligence experts believe south-western France is being increasingly targeted by Chinese and other espionage because of the region's proximity to defence, aerospace and telecommunication sites.

From BBC

He had faced up to 15 years on the economic espionage charge.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• intelligence