voyeur
Americannoun
-
voyeurs
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of voyeur
First recorded in 1915–20; from French, equivalent to voi(r) “to see” (from Latin vidēre; cf. video ( def. )) + -eur -eur
Explanation
Make sure you close the curtains at night, just in case there’s a voyeur in the neighborhood. A voyeur is someone who likes to watch people without them knowing. The word voyeur came into English in the twentieth century from the French word voir, meaning “see.” A voyeur is someone who peeps, or spies on other people, watching them do things they probably don't want to be seen, or someone who likes to hear stories about strangers' private lives. When you spell voyeur, make sure you remember the ending is spelled “eur,” a legacy of the word’s French heritage.
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.
See Examples For:
Horrible people acting horribly is always entertaining, to a point—the point being when the viewer recognizes he has become a voyeur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Villarreal: As a real estate voyeur, I am curious to see more of Greg/Gary’s posh pad up on the hills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2025
Rather, it’s a clever way for Soderbergh to make the viewer feel like a voyeur, listening in on increasingly intimate conversations that we wouldn’t otherwise be privy to.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 2025
The late Janet Malcolm memorably proclaimed that a biographer is like a “professional burglar” attempting to break into and enter a life — a busybody and voyeur masked in “an apparatus of scholarship.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
"I might lose my job as an interplanetary voyeur? I guess I'd have to use my master's degree for something else."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
For many of the gawkers and voyeurs, this is pure fantasy, a kind of calming, momentary escape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
As "voyeurs of morality", she adds, "we can't wait for the nice person to do something unexpectedly".
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025
The film’s long, languid takes make almost every scene feel like a beautifully composed tableau, turning us into curious voyeurs eager to demystify the hidden secrets found therein.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2025
This explains why turnaround time between whatever actions Joan takes in the real world and the heightened, more attractive version served up to Streamberry voyeurs is so short.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2023
Hundreds of millions of viewers and voyeurs plug in to take a peep, to intrude upon what Truman innocently and honestly believes to be his privacy.
From Moral Deliberations in Modern Cinema by Samuel Vaknin
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.
