Meaning

2 senses

  1. A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).

    Spion, Spionin, Spitzel

    шпио́нšpión, шпио́нкаšpiónka, аге́нтagént

    шпигу́нšpyhún, шпигу́нкаšpyhúnka, шпигšpyh

    a secret watcher; someone who secretly watches other people

  2. A defensive player assigned to cover an offensive backfield player man-to-man when they are expected to engage in a running play, but the offensive player does not run with the ball immediately.

Examples

314 sentences

  1. I know Tom is a spy.

    Я знаю, що Том — шпигун. — deniko

    ruЯ знаю, что Том — шпион. — marafon

    deIch weiß, dass Tom ein Spion ist. — raggione

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I suspect that Tom is a spy.

    Підозрюю, що Том — шпигун. — deniko

    ruЯ подозреваю, что Том — шпион. — odexed

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. I know that Tom is a spy.

    Я знаю, що Том — шпигун. — deniko

    ruЯ знаю, что Том — шпион. — marafon

    deIch weiß, dass Tom ein Spion ist. — raggione

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Do you really think Tom is a spy?

    Ти й насправді думаєш, що Том шпигун? — deniko

    ruВы действительно считаете Тома шпионом? — sharptoothed

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. You would make an excellent spy.

    Із тебе вийшов би відмінний шпигун. — deniko

    ruИз тебя бы вышел отличный шпион. — marafon

    Hybrid · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
person who secretly watches:
Русский
By meaning 1
person who secretly watches:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
person who secretly watches:

Origin

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: spies
Singularspy
Pluralspies

regular

Synonyms

9 synonyms
ghostA1espyintelligencerespialsecret agentspookundie
Close in meaning
  • (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors:undercover agent

Word family

31 related words
Derivedantispybespyco-spycyberspyspyboatspybotspycamspycatcherspycatchingspy copspycorespycraftspydomspy dustspyessspy-fispyholespyismspylessspylikespymasterspymistressspy moneyspyplane

Collocations

5 patterns
  • is a spy
  • been spying on
  • being a spy
  • to spy on
  • has been spying

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
spurtsputniksputterspyglasssquabblesquadB2

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

spy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto