spy
noun
a person employed by a government to obtain secret information or intelligence about another, usually hostile, country, especially with reference to military or naval affairs.
have been spying
-
present perfect progressiveof spy.present perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that began in the past, has continued continuously, and is still in progress.
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.
Taiwan and China have been spying on each other since 1949, when Chinese nationalists set up a separate government in Taipei opposing Mao Zedong's communist China.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2023
People have been spying on one another since the dawn of time; the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the British Empire, the Persian Empire, the Soviet Union, Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, they all have done it.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2023
He would not say who could have been spying on the premier and whether any foreign powers or Spanish groups were suspected of being behind it.
From Reuters ● May 2, 2022
“Nothing compromising has been made public by them though they have been spying for years,” said Dalia Mogahed, research director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a think tank focused on U.S.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 16, 2021
“They could have been spying on the people that lived there. Maybe that really was East River....”
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
