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What is a voyeur?
Voyeur is a fairly recent addition to English; our earliest written evidence for the word dates from the beginning of the 20th century. It comes directly from a French noun meaning, literally, “one who sees.”
Initially, voyeur referred to someone who derived sexual pleasure from watching others undress or engage in intimate acts; it was synonymous with Peeping Tom. By the middle of the 20th century, its meaning had broadened to "an unduly prying observer," particularly one interested in squalid or shocking details:
[A] good biographer is always in some sense a voyeur.–Times Literary Supplement, November 5, 1971
Is a press that pries into a presidential aspirant’s personal habits pandering to voyeurs or enlightening rightfully curious voters? –Saturday Review, February 16, 1980
Examples of voyeur in a Sentence
Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 4 Oct. 2024
The police set up surveillance around their home to catch the voyeur, but the family starts to crumble as secrets unravel under the scrutiny.
—Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 4 Sep. 2024
Airports, which are not most people’s favorite places, appeal to her as a voyeur.
—Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2024
The police sets up surveillance around their home to catch the voyeur, but tensions within the family rise as secrets unravel under the scrutiny of eyes watching them from all sides.
—Sara Merican, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for voyeur 
Dictionary Entries Near voyeur
Cite this Entry
“Voyeur.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/voyeur. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.
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