surveillance
noun
Simple meaning
Close observation of a person or group.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
servayluhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɚˈveɪləns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Close observation of a person or group (usually by the police)
Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.
law
In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.
Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.
militaryespionage
Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Close observation of a person or group (usually by the police)
Used this way, surveillance is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use surveillance
- “Security surveillance cameras monitor the building 24 hours a day.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.