eavesdrops (on)

verb

present tense third-person singular of eavesdrop (on)
as in listens in (on)
to listen to (another in private conversation) a nosy traveler who likes to eavesdrop on his fellow airline passengers

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for eavesdrops (on)
  1. monitors
  2. spies
  3. hears
Verb
  • After the border incident, the teenager contacted the Office of the Child Advocate, an independent government watchdog that monitors the child welfare system, which eventually referred the case to the New Mexico Department of Justice.
    — MIKELLA SCHUETTLER, ABC News, 30 July 2026
  • Vernet’s patch instead monitors cores to look for situations where a busy thread would benefit from an improved clock rate.
    — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 29 July 2026
Definition of monitors
Verb
  • Late one night, Clark spies what appears to be a sliver of light coming through a crack in the wall of the store’s basement.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 June 2026
  • In Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s The Finding of Moses, a dog spies a young girl whose presence unlocks the painting’s meaning.
    — Boris Kachka, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
Definition of spies
Verb
  • Unlike standard hearing and vision tests, these assessments examine how the brain interprets what the child hears and sees and may help identify underlying weaknesses contributing to behaviors associated with ADHD or autism.
    — Jillian Pretzel, Parents, 25 July 2026
  • Then, after Erica has a peevish moment with Scotty, the gang hears about the landing party’s prehistoric adventures over drinks.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 23 July 2026
Definition of hears
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.

Browse Nearby Words

eavesdropping (on)
eavesdrops (on)
eaves trough
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Cite this Entry

“Eavesdrops (on).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/eavesdrops%20%28on%29. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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