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Glite Dictionary
👀 Nosy behavior 👀 Too curious
prying

prying

2 7.6
Asking questions about other people's private lives in an annoying way
  • noun
  • /ˈpraɪɪŋ/
translation icon : entrometimiento
  • Also, it's important to keep our browsing info safe from the prying eyes of the ISPs, and Nord VPN will do just that.
  • prying eyes
  • free from prying

I can't disclose it, but I will say that I am sorry for prying.

Examples

  • With employers electronically peering into workers' productivity and behavior, the line between being free to run a business and being free from personal prying is filled with legal static.

    Academic text (2000)

  • He was disappointed at his son's prying question.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • But how much prying is too much?

    Academic text (2000)

  • Looking for something that will keep your personal data and information safe from outside prying eyes?

    Blog text (5)

  • But she hates the noise and the prying.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • A little clumsy prying and it came free.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • It was full of women like Mrs. Parkin with her prying questions and intrusive, knowing eyes.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • "Why did you break with him?" The transition into personal prying was accomplished with so little change in tone that I was almost lulled into answering.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I suffered two more minutes of his prying as the elevator swallowed us and raised us to the twelfth floor, but as soon as we hit Blackfeet's lobby, Irma Triff mercifully cut off the conversation with a pile of pink.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • His constant prying into my personal life made me feel uncomfortable.

Synonyms

spying
vsprying
66 4.6

The act of secretly watching people or places to get information

is about asking into others' private matters rather than secret observation
nosiness
vsprying
1 5.1

Being too interested in other people's private lives

is the act of asking into matters that do not concern oneself
snoopiness
vsprying
8.7

A habit of trying to find out other people's private things

focuses on the act of asking about matters that do not concern one

How Intrusive

prying
2 7.6
nosiness
1 5.1
curiosity
318 2.2

Surface Forms

prying singular
pryings plural

Morphology

prying = pry (transparent) = pry + ing

The noun is a gerund/nominalization of 'pry' using '-ing', so the action or behavior is clearly derived from the verb.

Etymology

Prying as a noun comes from the verb pry, and a helpful image is a 'pry bar' opening a locked box. Prying is the act of trying to get into someone's 'private' life or secrets.