Seek vs Spy - What's the difference?
seek | spy | Related terms |
(lb) To try to find, to look for, to search.
:
*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, magazine=(American Scientist), title= (label) To inquire for; to ask for; to solicit; to beseech.
:
*Bible, (w) xi. 16
*:Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign.
*1960 , (Lobsang Rampa), :
*:“My, my! It is indeed a long way yet, look you!” said the pleasant woman of whom I sought directions.
(lb) To try to acquire or gain; to strive after; to aim at.
:
*1880 , , :
*:But persecution sought the lives of men of this character.
*1886 , Constantine Popoff, translation of (Leo Tolstoy)'s :
*:I can no longer seek fame or glory, nor can I help trying to get rid of my riches, which separate me from my fellow-creatures.
*
*:Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
To go, move, travel (in a given direction).
:
*, Bk.V:
*:Ryght so he sought towarde Sandewyche where he founde before hym many galyard knyghtes
(lb) To try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to.
*:
*:Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
*1726
*:Since great Ulysses sought the Phrygian plains
A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To act as a spy.
To spot; to catch sight of.
* Jonathan Swift
* Latimer
To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
* Shakespeare
To explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
* Bible, Numbers xxi. 32
barf (US), vomit, spew
to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative )
In transitive terms the difference between seek and spy
is that seek is to try to reach or come to; to go to; to resort to while spy is to explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.As a noun spy is
a person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage).seek
English
Verb
Catherine Clabby
Focus on Everything, passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
(tr.), (Alexander Pope), ''(Homer)'s (Odyssey), Book II, line 33
Quotations
Synonyms
* look for * searchDerived terms
* (l) * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)Anagrams
* English irregular verbsspy
English
Noun
(spies)Travels and travails, passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
Derived terms
* spy ringVerb
- During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
- I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
- One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
- Look about with your eyes; spy what things are to be reformed in the church of England.
- It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses.
- Moses sent to spy Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof.
