overhearing

verb

present participle of overhear
as in hearing
to listen to (another in private conversation) it's not polite to try to overhear intimate friends sharing confidences

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of overhearing After weeks of overhearing the outbursts, O'Connor and his wife compiled their own top 10 list of Torn's most memorable lines. — Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2026 Morales recalled overhearing Ramirez on the phone in January confiding in someone about her troubled relationship. — Theodore Parisienne, New York Daily News, 8 Oct. 2026 Digging a bit deeper, the study determined that while 57% of respondents would be creeped out by someone shoulder-surfing their screens, only 43% had a similar worry about people overhearing phone conversations. — Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine, 10 Sep. 2026 We weren’t allowed to leave the room to prevent anyone from overhearing our conversations and perhaps posting [the questions] on the Internet. — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 11 Aug. 2026 But despite getting back together in season two, the finale ended on a cliffhanger of Alex overhearing Jackie confess her love to his brother Cole. — Lexy Perez, HollywoodReporter, 8 Aug. 2026 The last season ended with Alex overhearing Cole’s dramatic love confession to Jackie and a cliffhanger about patriarch George’s health. — Madeleine Janz, PEOPLE, 1 Aug. 2026 Muraki admitted overhearing her comments about the home but denied handing a note during their first meeting. — Sacbee.com, 7 July 2026 The episode ends with Teddy getting a voicemail from Owen and overhearing a bridge collapse and car crash that may be fatal. — Taijuan Moorman, USA Today, 1 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overhearing
  1. hearing
  2. spying
  3. monitoring
  4. snooping
Verb
  • Helping other families Their experience seeking answers in Amy’s case and hearing other families describe similar struggles, prompted Shawn and Angie to consider starting a nonprofit years ago.
    — Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Police detained Runa at the care home and took her away before her mother, who had rushed back to the facility upon hearing the news, had a chance to see her, Yoko recalled.
    — Hanako Montgomery, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of hearing
Verb
  • The actress provided the voice of a technologically advanced, data-spying smart refrigerator.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026
  • To support their request to detain Alfozan, the government pointed to a case where former Twitter employees were charged with spying for the Saudi government.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of spying
Verb
  • Potential industrial applications This was then used to tell the robot’s limbs what moves to make, all the while monitoring the cube’s state to check and correct for errors.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Use strong antivirus protection Strong antivirus software adds another layer of protection by monitoring suspicious behavior and detecting threats that may go unnoticed.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of monitoring
Verb
  • Its biggest selling point is the brand-new Privacy Display feature, which can dim screen visibility from the side and make snooping nearly impossible.
    — Nitish Pahwa, Time, 15 Oct. 2026
  • An alcoholic drink will give you a buzz, but if someone laced it with something dangerous, a new poison-snooping patch will buzz your skin to warn you.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of snooping

Browse Nearby Words

overheard
overhearing
overhears
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Cite this Entry

“Overhearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overhearing. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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