From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishespionagees‧pi‧o‧nage /ˈespiənɑːʒ/ noun [uncountable] FIND OUTthe activity of secretly finding out secret information and giving it to a country’s enemies or a company’s competitors SYN spying, → spy a campaign of industrial espionage against his main rival → counter-espionage
Examples from the Corpus
espionage• She knew little about espionage and, until this murder case, cared less.• Terror and danger in the world of intrigue and espionage.• The banks take precautions to prevent any attempts at industrial espionage while confidential documents are on the premises.• Three months later, the Soviets convicted him of espionage.• The men, convicted on espionage charges, had been sentenced to 15-year prison terms in 1987.• Zakharov, a KGB agent, was charged with espionage.industrial espionage• The Computer Security Institute, which conducted the survey, said the losses were caused by industrial espionage, hacking and fraud.• The possibility of their involvement can not be ruled out at this stage, but neither can industrial espionage.• Under the second category they considered investigations by private detectives, industrial espionage, technical surveillance devices, and finally computers.• Whitehall denies that Echelon is involved in industrial espionage, but admits that its aims include countering industrial espionage by others.• Finally, we need a transatlantic understanding on industrial espionage.• The strength of the desire to gain particular techniques is often reflected by the extent to which industrial espionage was resorted to.From Longman Business Dictionaryespionagees‧pi‧o‧nage /ˈespiənɑːʒ/ noun [uncountable] when people secretly find out a country’s or company’s secretsHe was cleared of mounting a campaign of industrial espionage against his main rival.Origin espionage (1700-1800) French espionnage, from espion “spy” 