counter-espionagenoun [ U ]
uk/ˌkaʊn.tərˈes.pi.ə.nɑːʒ/us/ˌkaʊn.t̬ɚˈes.pi.ə.nɑːʒ/secret action taken by a country to prevent another country from discovering its military, industrial, or political secrets
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
International relations: spying and espionage
- agent
- agent provocateur
- counterintelligence
- deep state
- double agent
- MI5
- MI6
- on the inside idiom
- operative
- phone tapping
- quisling
- scout
- spook
- spy
- spy on sb/sth
- tail
- tap
- the CIA
- wired up
- wiretap
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Examples from literature
- Espionage and counter-espionage have greatly flourished during the war.
- It was the certainty of retaliation which kept the actual war a cold one—a war of provocation and trickery and counter-espionage, but not of mutual extermination.