peeping tom
peeping tom noun: a person who watches another without the other's permission and usually without the other's knowledge, especially for the purpose of deriving sexual pleasure from the sight of the other.
Noun
peeping tom (plural peeping toms)
- A person who watches another without the other's permission and usually without the other's knowledge, especially for the purpose of deriving sexual pleasure from the sight of the other.
- Reynolds contended that the Chinese was a peeping tom whom he caught spying on his wife one night last March while she was toweling herself after a shower.1957 June 3, “A Question of Justice”, in Time
- The girls complained about peeping Toms. There was a skylight window in the communal ladies' shower, and one night Jennie and a friend looked up while showering, to see two young male faces staring at them from above.2000, Jeffrey Geri, Oh, Henry, →ISBN, page 148
peeping tom meaning in Arabic and Persian
peeping tom in Arabic
- person who secretly watches someone to gain sexual pleasure
- مُتَلَصِّص mutalaṣṣiṣ
peeping tom in Persian
- person who secretly watches someone to gain sexual pleasure
- هیز hiz
Synonyms of peeping tom
Forms of peeping tom
| plural | peeping toms |
|---|---|
| alternative form | peeping Tom |
| alternative form | Peeping Tom |
Origin of peeping tom
From Peeping Tom, a tailor in the legend of Lady Godiva who watched Godiva riding naked.
Words formed from peeping tom
Questions about peeping tom
- What does peeping tom mean?
- Peeping tom means a person who watches another without the other's permission and usually without the other's knowledge, especially for the purpose of deriving sexual pleasure from the sight of the other.
- What is peeping tom in Arabic?
- Peeping tom in Arabic is مُتَلَصِّص (mutalaṣṣiṣ). See Peeping tom meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is peeping tom?
- Peeping tom is a noun.
- What is the plural of peeping tom?
- The plural of peeping tom is peeping toms.
Words near peeping tom in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: peeping tom (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-peeping tom.wav.
Cite this entry: “peeping tom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/peeping_tom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.