Eavesdrop
verb
To secretly listen to someone else's conversation.
He tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but they spotted him.

Often appears as...
- eavesdrop on a conversation
- accidentally eavesdrop
verb
To secretly listen to someone else's conversation.
He tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but they spotted him.

Often appears as...
- eavesdrop on a conversation
- accidentally eavesdrop
Definition 1 of 1

Secretly Listening
Eavesdrop means listening without others knowing, often considered intrusive or impolite.

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on her friends' private chat.
Not an Accident
Eavesdropping usually suggests intention, unlike accidentally overhearing something.

Despite his excuses, it was clear he meant to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Stealth Required
It involves being quiet or hidden to avoid detection; it's sneaky.

The kids tried to eavesdrop on their parents by sneaking up to the door.
Secretly Listening
Eavesdrop means listening without others knowing, often considered intrusive or impolite.

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on her friends' private chat.
Not an Accident
Eavesdropping usually suggests intention, unlike accidentally overhearing something.

Despite his excuses, it was clear he meant to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Stealth Required
It involves being quiet or hidden to avoid detection; it's sneaky.

The kids tried to eavesdrop on their parents by sneaking up to the door.
Secretly Listening
Eavesdrop means listening without others knowing, often considered intrusive or impolite.

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on her friends' private chat.
Not an Accident
Eavesdropping usually suggests intention, unlike accidentally overhearing something.

Despite his excuses, it was clear he meant to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Stealth Required
It involves being quiet or hidden to avoid detection; it's sneaky.

The kids tried to eavesdrop on their parents by sneaking up to the door.
Video examples
How a dragonfly's brain...
They're actually very scary, especially under a microscope. They have really sharp mandibles, are generally pretty aggressive, which I guess also helps them to be really good predators. In order to learn what's going on inside the dragonfly's brain when it sees a prey, we're going to eavesdrop in on a conversation between the eyes and the wings,
Video examples
Abe Davis: New video...
In fact, people have been using lasers to eavesdrop on objects from a distance for decades. But what's really new here, what's really different, is that now we have a way to picture the vibrations of an object, which gives us a new lens through which to look at the world, and we can use that lens
Video examples
What’s that ringing in...
Losing the sound of silence can be troubling to say the least. Tinnitus reveals that your brain is constantly analyzing the world around you, even as it fails to filter its own internal noise. In a sense, experiencing tinnitus is like eavesdropping on your brain talking to itself—
Video examples
Three anti-social skills...
If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. The first is eavesdropping. If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. Of course, when you write fiction, you're not describing real people, you're making up characters.
Video examples
Can plants talk to each...
can travel to a healthy plant and prompt it to turn on its immune system, too. These advance warnings increase the plants chance of survival. Bean plants also eavesdrop on each other's health through these fungal conduits. An aphid investation in one plant
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
editor-at-large at national geographic magazine and this is overheard a show where we eavesdrop on the wild conversations we have here at natgeo and follow them to the edges of our big weird beautiful world over the last three years brian scary
Video examples
Why do whales sing? -...
where learned behaviors are passed between unrelated individuals of the same species. We can eavesdrop on these songs using underwater microphones called hydrophones. These help us track species when sightings or genetic samples are rare.
Video examples
Mark Pagel: How language...
And so it seems that we use our language, not just to cooperate, but to draw rings around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and perhaps to protect our knowledge and wisdom and skills from eavesdropping from outside.
Video examples
The unexpected tool to...
just HTTP colon slash slash you're using cryptography with the word without even thinking about it to keep messages secret and people have been hiding messages and try to talk to people without others eavesdropping forever
Video examples
Fireflies: Nature's...
they will eavesdrop on the conversations of these mating prey species and use those conversations to their own advantage immediately after a femme fatale has mated with her
Video examples
How a dragonfly's brain...
They're actually very scary, especially under a microscope. They have really sharp mandibles, are generally pretty aggressive, which I guess also helps them to be really good predators. In order to learn what's going on inside the dragonfly's brain when it sees a prey, we're going to eavesdrop in on a conversation between the eyes and the wings,
Video examples
Abe Davis: New video...
In fact, people have been using lasers to eavesdrop on objects from a distance for decades. But what's really new here, what's really different, is that now we have a way to picture the vibrations of an object, which gives us a new lens through which to look at the world, and we can use that lens
Video examples
What’s that ringing in...
Losing the sound of silence can be troubling to say the least. Tinnitus reveals that your brain is constantly analyzing the world around you, even as it fails to filter its own internal noise. In a sense, experiencing tinnitus is like eavesdropping on your brain talking to itself—
Video examples
Three anti-social skills...
If you're a writer, you may already have a few of these. The first is eavesdropping. If you're riding a bus and hear an interesting conversation, you could write it all down. Of course, when you write fiction, you're not describing real people, you're making up characters.
Video examples
Can plants talk to each...
can travel to a healthy plant and prompt it to turn on its immune system, too. These advance warnings increase the plants chance of survival. Bean plants also eavesdrop on each other's health through these fungal conduits. An aphid investation in one plant
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
editor-at-large at national geographic magazine and this is overheard a show where we eavesdrop on the wild conversations we have here at natgeo and follow them to the edges of our big weird beautiful world over the last three years brian scary
Video examples
Why do whales sing? -...
where learned behaviors are passed between unrelated individuals of the same species. We can eavesdrop on these songs using underwater microphones called hydrophones. These help us track species when sightings or genetic samples are rare.
Video examples
Mark Pagel: How language...
And so it seems that we use our language, not just to cooperate, but to draw rings around our cooperative groups and to establish identities, and perhaps to protect our knowledge and wisdom and skills from eavesdropping from outside.
Video examples
The unexpected tool to...
just HTTP colon slash slash you're using cryptography with the word without even thinking about it to keep messages secret and people have been hiding messages and try to talk to people without others eavesdropping forever
Video examples
Fireflies: Nature's...
they will eavesdrop on the conversations of these mating prey species and use those conversations to their own advantage immediately after a femme fatale has mated with her
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Kate DiCamillo
American Author
I always have a notebook with me, I eavesdrop; I write down what people say. It's very rare that one of those things will provoke a story, but I think that that kind of paying attention all the time, and keeping everything open, lets the stories come in. But where they come from is still a mystery to me.

Quote examples
Emma Healey
British Novelist
Writing is the thing that pervades my whole day - I'm always wondering how I might describe something or improve my understanding. I'm constantly trying to remember an eavesdropped conversation or an idea for a story.

Quote examples
Jan Koum
American Businessman
Nobody should have the right to eavesdrop, or you become a totalitarian state - the kind of state I escaped as a kid to come to this country where you have democracy and freedom of speech.

Quote examples
Ben Marcus
American Author
It's lonely to listen to the pleasure of others, not that I've made a habit of that kind of eavesdropping. There's joy and passion in the next room, in the next bed, but it's not yours.

Quote examples
Jane Smiley
American Writer
Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

Quote examples
Thornton Wilder
American Novelist
There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

Quote examples
Florence King
American Writer
Optimists don't mind if you eavesdrop on them. They welcome it, in fact, because it helps them spread their fiendish gospel.

Quote examples
James Lapine
American Director
If you're like me and nosy, you're always eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

Quote examples
Vladimir Putin
Russian Statesman
We're no longer in the Cold War. Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable.

Quote examples
Elayne Boosler
American Comedian
I run everywhere and eavesdrop. It's the best way to see a city.

Quote examples
Kate DiCamillo
American Author
I always have a notebook with me, I eavesdrop; I write down what people say. It's very rare that one of those things will provoke a story, but I think that that kind of paying attention all the time, and keeping everything open, lets the stories come in. But where they come from is still a mystery to me.

Quote examples
Emma Healey
British Novelist
Writing is the thing that pervades my whole day - I'm always wondering how I might describe something or improve my understanding. I'm constantly trying to remember an eavesdropped conversation or an idea for a story.

Quote examples
Jan Koum
American Businessman
Nobody should have the right to eavesdrop, or you become a totalitarian state - the kind of state I escaped as a kid to come to this country where you have democracy and freedom of speech.

Quote examples
Ben Marcus
American Author
It's lonely to listen to the pleasure of others, not that I've made a habit of that kind of eavesdropping. There's joy and passion in the next room, in the next bed, but it's not yours.

Quote examples
Jane Smiley
American Writer
Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

Quote examples
Thornton Wilder
American Novelist
There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.

Quote examples
Florence King
American Writer
Optimists don't mind if you eavesdrop on them. They welcome it, in fact, because it helps them spread their fiendish gospel.

Quote examples
James Lapine
American Director
If you're like me and nosy, you're always eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

Quote examples
Vladimir Putin
Russian Statesman
We're no longer in the Cold War. Eavesdropping on friends is unacceptable.

Quote examples
Elayne Boosler
American Comedian
I run everywhere and eavesdrop. It's the best way to see a city.

Example 1 of 10
WordUp Chrome Extension
As you browse the web instantly look up words you don’t know.
Get Chrome Extension