Word.ws English Dictionary

shoulder surfing

shoulder surfing noun: the use of direct observation, such as looking over someone's shoulder at an ATM, in order to obtain information.

Noun

shoulder surfing (uncountable)

  1. (chiefly computer security) The use of direct observation, such as looking over someone's shoulder at an ATM, in order to obtain information.
  2. a technique in surfing requiring less skill, riding the wave lower down than its critical point

Questions about shoulder surfing

What does shoulder surfing mean?
Shoulder surfing means the use of direct observation, such as looking over someone's shoulder at an ATM, in order to obtain information.
What part of speech is shoulder surfing?
Shoulder surfing is a noun.

Words near shoulder surfing in the dictionary

  1. shoulder strap
  2. shoulder straps
  3. shoulder surf
  4. shoulder surfer
  5. shoulder surfers
  6. shoulder surfing
  7. shoulder to cry on
  8. shoulder to shoulder
  9. shoulder-barge
  10. shoulder-barged
  11. shoulder-barges

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shoulder surfing (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.

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Cite this entry: “shoulder surfing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shoulder_surfing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.