industrial espionage

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noun

the stealing of technological or commercial research data, blueprints, plans, etc., as by a person in the hire of a competing company.

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Origin of industrial espionage

First recorded in 1960–65

Words nearby industrial espionage

industrial design, industrial development certificate, industrial diamond, industrial disease, industrial engineering, industrial espionage, industrial estate, industrial insurance, industrialism, industrialist, industrialization

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use industrial espionage in a sentence

The Industrial Revolution and Victorian practically erased the holiday in England.
How Dickens and Scrooge Saved Christmas|Clive Irving|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The folk memory of medieval community life had been wiped out by the industrial revolution.
How Dickens and Scrooge Saved Christmas|Clive Irving|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Fracking, in this regard, is no different from gypsum mining, or some kinds of industrial agriculture.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Moreover, trucks, dust, and boomtown stress are the effects of any large-scale industrial activity.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But they are serious: what large-scale fracking does is change small farm towns into industrial sites.
New York’s Conservative Fracking Ban|Jay Michaelson|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A considerable proportion of the industrial and commercial news is now written to an end.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
It offers, to those who see it aright, the most perplexing industrial paradox ever presented in the history of mankind.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
Industrial society, they say, must be reorganized from top to bottom; private industry must cease.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
But closely allied to this subject, and not inferior to it in importance, stands that of Industrial Training.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
The legal framework of the State and of obedience to the law in which industrial society is set threatens to break asunder.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

British Dictionary definitions for industrial espionage

industrial espionage

noun

attempting to obtain trade secrets by dishonest means, as by telephone- or computer-tapping, infiltration of a competitor's workforce, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012