Surveillance: meaning, example and synonyms
Surveillancen. Close, sustained observation of a person, group, or place, especially to detect activity.
Example
Ecologists placed the nesting cliffs under constant surveillance, using motion-triggered cameras to record every predator that approached the eggs.
- Part of speech
- noun
- Synonyms
- monitoring, observation, scrutiny, watch
- Antonyms
- neglect, inattention, disregard
- Memory tip
- sur (over) + veiller (to watch): someone keeps watch over you.
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Check yourself: Surveillance in context
After a string of break-ins at the research station, the director authorized round-the-clock ______ of the storage building, installing cameras at every entrance and assigning guards to watch the monitors.
Answer: surveillance. Cameras and guards watching a building nonstop describe surveillance. recurrence (a repeat occurrence), memento (a keepsake) and proclamation (an official announcement) don't fit this context.
Civil liberties scholars warn that when governments collect citizens' phone records in bulk, such ______ can quietly erode the expectation of privacy on which free association depends.
Answer: surveillance. Bulk collection of phone records is a form of watching citizens, so surveillance fits. proclamation (an official announcement), memento (a keepsake) and discrepancy (a mismatch) don't fit this context.