intelligencer
Americannoun
-
a person or thing that conveys information.
-
an informer; spy.
noun
Etymology
Origin of intelligencer
First recorded in 1570–80; intelligence + -er 2
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 former minister told Aluko she had already spoken about his "general behaviour, acquisition of assets, etc, asking you to be careful because intelligencer will start following you".
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
Marlowe, we think, worked as a secret agent or "intelligencer" in the proto-secret service that Francis Walsingham set up for Elizabeth I, and in all likelihood conducted espionage abroad.
From The Guardian • Oct. 15, 2010
Shakespeare speaks of Richard as "hell's black intelligencer," "that bottled spider, this poisonous bunch-back'd toad."
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
He had bene a cheefe sticler in ye former faction among ye perticulers, and an intelligencer to those in England.
From Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation' From the Original Manuscript. With a Report of the Proceedings Incident to the Return of the Manuscript to Massachusetts by Bradford, William
Mr. Lovelace communicated to me this morning early, from his intelligencer, the news of my brother's scheme.
From Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 3 by Richardson, Samuel
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.