surveillance

Noun

surveillance (countable and uncountable, plural surveillances)

1. Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion.
   • The surveillance program includes at least 480 LPRs that scan and record about 16.2 million vehicles per week and stores that data for two years, he wrote in the court filing.2023 July 24, Chris Eberhart, “NY police used AI to track drivers on highways as attorney questions legality”, in Fox News, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2023
2. Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.
   • 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...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
3. Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
   • 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.2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2025, page 23
   • Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued.2019 January 31, Ian Bogost, quoting Tim Cook, “Apple’s Empty Grandstanding About Privacy”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2019
4. In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.