Spied vs Spying - What's the difference?

spied | spying |


As verbs the difference between spied and spying

is that spied is (spy) while spying is .

As a noun spying is

espionage.

spied

English

Verb

(head)
  • (spy)

    • Anagrams

    * *

    spy

    English

    Noun

    (spies)
  • 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= 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 ring

    Verb

  • To act as a spy.
    • During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
  • To spot; to catch sight of.
    • I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
  • * Latimer
    • Look about with your eyes; spy what things are to be reformed in the church of England.
  • To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
  • * Shakespeare
    • It is my nature's plague / To spy into abuses.
  • To explore; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
  • * Bible, Numbers xxi. 32
    • Moses sent to spy Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof.

    Derived terms

    * spy on

    Related terms

    * spyglass * spyware

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==

    Noun

  • barf (US), vomit, spew

    • Verb

  • to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative )

    • Synonyms

    * (l)

    References

    * ----

    spying

    English

    Verb

    (head)

    • Noun

  • espionage
  • * 1980 , Amélie Rorty, Explaining Emotions (page 472)
    • There are two ways in which the obsessive character of jealousy tends to exert itself: one is in the need to know, the endless tests and investigations and spyings that are so characteristic of jealousy.

    Anagrams

    *