spywork

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noun

The activities and duties relating to spies and spying.

Scrabble 19
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Meanings

nounspywork (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe activities and duties relating to spies and spying.

    Lobkowitz heard of it in spite of the shut gates; for all Prag is against Belleisle, and does spywork for Lobkowitz.

    1858, Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, page 352
    2 more examples

    Just knowing that he has heard cryptobabble is enough to bring teams of assassins to Switzerland to silence the November Man, who had sworn off spywork to please Rita Macklin, his live-in lover.

    1986, Kirkus Reviews, page 1467

    Sorin had assigned Galatea and the Groupies to go Above based on what he had gleaned from the spywork he had convinced the real Master to initiate last night—spywork that troubled him more than it assuaged his concerns.

    2007, Chris Marie Green, Night Rising: Vampire Babylon, Book 1, Ace Books, page 127

Origin

From spy + -work.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

spywork. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spywork

MLA

“spywork.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spywork. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spywork,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spywork.

Source: spywork on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.