/səˈveɪləns/
#2400 of 5,000 Core 5000
Translation
Watching a person or place carefully and secretly, often by police or cameras.
Word origin
From French surveiller, to watch over, from sur, over, and veiller, to stay watching, from Latin vigilare.
- Origin
- French
- Root
- surveiller
- English cognates
- vigil, vigilant
Examples
.
"Under surveillance" means being watched secretly.
filmed .
A "surveillance camera" records what happens in a place.
.
"Surveillance" is uncountable, so it takes no "a" and no plural.
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 48.