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🛑 To stop 🕵️ To listen secretly 📈 Crossing point
to intercept

to intercept

65 7.3
To secretly listen to phone calls or messages to get information
  • verb
  • /ˌɪntərˈsɛpt/
translation icon : interceptar
  • The agent was able to intercept the phone call and gather valuable information.
  • intercept messages
  • intercept communications
  • intercept information

Examples

  • Under the plan, federal investigators would have special keys to intercept and read any citizen's electronic communications.

    Academic text (2003)

  • We intercepted Nagazi radio calls.

    Extraction 2 (2023)

  • " We have long been in a position to intercept your communications, Doctor."

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The message we intercepted said they leave in two days.

    The Zombie Diaries 2 (2011)

  • Couple days ago we intercepted an e-mail between members of his group.

    Vantage Point (2008)

  • The army had not solved any Japanese army codes because it could not intercept enough messages.

    Academic text (1991)

  • L-I just intercepted another call between her and Mr. Lee.

    Freaky Farley (2007)

  • The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act sets guidelines for government agents intercepting phone calls.

    Academic text (2003)

  • 16 minutes ago, we intercepted a distress call from a supposedly abandoned radar station at Severnaya.

    GoldenEye (1995)

  • We just intercepted an emergency call from an Airbus out of Mexico saying a man jumped off the plane over Sequoia.

    Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

Synonyms

to spy
vsto intercept
132 4.4

To secretly watch someone to get information for a government or company

is limited to secretly listening to phone or telegraph communications rather than broad observation
to snoop
vsto intercept
89 5.7

To secretly look for someone's private information or watch them

is about secretly listening to phone or telegraph messages not general prying
to tap
vsto intercept
62 8.2

To secretly listen to someone's phone calls

is the secret gathering of phone or telegraph messages to obtain information
to listen in
vsto intercept
  • Informal
57 5.0

To hear a conversation secretly without being noticed

is focused on secretly collecting phone or telegraph messages for information
to eavesdrop
vsto intercept
23 5.0

To secretly listen to other people's private conversations without them knowing

is specifically about gathering phone or telegraph messages rather than nearby talk
to surveil
vsto intercept
9 8.4

To watch people or places closely to get information and stop crime

is specifically the secret listening of phone or telegraph messages rather than sustained observation
to wiretap
vsto intercept
5 7.5

To secretly listen to someone's phone calls

is about secretly gathering phone or telegraph messages rather than general surveillance

How Covert

to tap
62 8.2
to intercept
65 7.3
to eavesdrop
23 5.0
to overhear
175 1.6

Surface Forms

intercept infinitive
intercepted past
intercepted past participle
intercepting present participle
intercepts third person singular

Morphology

intercept = inter + cept

This surveillance meaning is a specialized extension of an already morphologically opaque verb, so the sense cannot be reliably inferred from 'inter-' plus the bound root '-cept'.

Etymology

Intercept comes from the Latin parts inter- 'between' and capere 'to take', the same root behind capture. A helpful way to remember the spying meaning is to imagine someone taking a message while it is still between the sender and the receiver, which is what it means to intercept a call or message.