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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

eavesdrop.

To hear (intentionally) a conversation one is not intended to hear; to listen in.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈiːvzˌdɹɒp/UK/ˈivzˌdɹɑp/US
  1. To hear (intentionally) a conversation one is not intended to hear; to listen in.

    ambitransitive
    I hope nobody was eavesdropping on our conversation last night, since it got so personal.
  2. To listen for another organism's calls, so as to exploit them.

Where this word comes from

From eaves + drop; the "listening" sense derives from the notion of the listener standing in the area denoted by the physical sense.

noun/ˈiːvzˌdɹɒp/UK/ˈivzˌdɹɑp/US
  1. The dripping of rain from the eaves of a house.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The space around a house on which such water drips.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A concealed aperture through which an occupant of a building can surreptitiously listen to people talking at an entrance to the building.

    countable
  4. The act of intentionally hearing a conversation not intended to be heard.

    countable
    Were you having a little eavesdrop on us last night?
Where this word comes from

From eaves + drop; the "listening" sense derives from the notion of the listener standing in the area denoted by the physical sense.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.