spy on
phrasal verb
spied on; spying on; spies on
: to watch (someone) secretly
He spies on his neighbors.
Have you been spying on me?
Examples of spy on in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Applied to China, the alleged IP thieves would have been spying on Blackberry and its market-leading phone, not the iPhone that few (including Blackberry) expected would succeed beyond niche status.
—
John Tamny, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Heinrich, who was filling in for host Shannon Bream, suggested that the mysterious drone situation could possibly be like when the Japanese spied on the U.S. before launching a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base near Honolulu on December 7, 1941.
—Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
Countries spying on one another has long been an acceptable practice — and retaliating against a spying campaign could jeopardize the U.S.'s own espionage operations.
—Sam Sabin, Axios, 13 Dec. 2024
Stone wanted to clean up a division of the department that had become infamous for spying on dissidents and deploying its agents as political enforcers for the corrupt Harding Administration.
—Beverly Gage, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spy on 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
John Tamny, Forbes, 1 Jan. 2025
Heinrich, who was filling in for host Shannon Bream, suggested that the mysterious drone situation could possibly be like when the Japanese spied on the U.S. before launching a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base near Honolulu on December 7, 1941.
—Raja Krishnamoorthi, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024
Countries spying on one another has long been an acceptable practice — and retaliating against a spying campaign could jeopardize the U.S.'s own espionage operations.
—Sam Sabin, Axios, 13 Dec. 2024
Stone wanted to clean up a division of the department that had become infamous for spying on dissidents and deploying its agents as political enforcers for the corrupt Harding Administration.
—Beverly Gage, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for spy on
Articles Related to spy on
Dictionary Entries Near spy on
Cite this Entry
“Spy on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spy%20on. Accessed 8 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share