snoop

/snup/

/snup/

Other forms: snooping; snooped; snoops

When you snoop, you poke around in someone else's business. A teenager might snoop in her sister's room, looking for her diary.

You snoop when you rustle through someone's garbage looking for love letters, and if you spy on your neighbor through the curtains, you also snoop. In fact, if you spend enough time doing this, you'll be called a snoop — a sneaky busybody. The earliest meaning of snoop, "to go around in a prying manner," comes from the Dutch word snoepen, "to pry."

Definitions of snoop

1. verb

   watch, observe, or inquire secretly
   synonyms: sleuth, spy, stag

   type of:

   monitor, supervise

   keep tabs on; keep an eye on; keep under surveillance
2. noun

   a spy who makes uninvited inquiries into the private affairs of others
   synonyms: snooper

   types:

   eavesdropper

   a secret listener to private conversations

   phone tapper, tapper, wiretapper

   someone who wiretaps a telephone or telegraph wire

   type of:

   spy

   a secret watcher; someone who secretly watches other people