surveillance
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from French surveillance (“a watching over, overseeing, supervision”), from surveiller (“to watch, oversee”), from sur- (“over”) + veiller (“to watch”), from Middle French, from Old French veillier (“to stay awake”), from Latin vigilāre, present active infinitive of vigilō (“I am watchful”). More at vigilant.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /sɚˈveɪ.ləns/
Audio (US): (file) - (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /səˈveɪ.ləns/
- (India) IPA(key): /səɾˈveː.ljəns/
Noun
[edit]surveillance (countable and uncountable, plural surveillances)
- Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.
- Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 66–67:
- Lady Anne appeared in a week or two to have greatly recovered her appetite, and she talked much of the benefit derived from her native air, in order to gain which, she constantly drove out in Lord Rotheles's carriages, and appeared to derive comfort from her admiration of his beautiful bays; beyond this Helen could not perceive that her airings were useful, as her cough increased exceedingly, and all the visitants at the castle expressed surprise "that she did not place herself under the surveillance of one or other of the great physicians of the metropolis."
- (military, espionage) Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
- 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly[1], volume 188, number 2, page 23:
- The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.
- (law) In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]observation of individuals or groups of individuals
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See also
[edit]Dutch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from French surveillance.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Noun
[edit]surveillance f (plural surveillances)
Descendants
[edit]- → Indonesian: surveilans
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From surveiller + -ance.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]surveillance f (plural surveillances)
Descendants
[edit]- → Dutch: surveillance
- → English: surveillance
Further reading
[edit]- “surveillance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from French
- English unadapted borrowings from French
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Military
- en:Espionage
- en:Law
- Dutch terms borrowed from French
- Dutch unadapted borrowings from French
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms with audio pronunciation
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch feminine nouns
- French terms suffixed with -ance
- French 3-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:French/ɑ̃s
- Rhymes:French/ɑ̃s/3 syllables
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns