spookdom

English

Etymology

From spook +‎ -dom.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

spookdom (uncountable)

1. (slang) The realm or sphere of spies.
   • 2008 February 3, William Safire, “Dirty Tricks”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     In a 1967 article about Richard Helms, then the new director of Central Intelligence, Time made the linguistic jump to spookdom: “When he surfaced in 1952, it was as deputy to the chief of the plans division, the so-called ‘dirty tricks’ department, which handles espionage and other undercover operations.”