Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A spy working in opposition to enemy espionage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A spy working in counterintelligence.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a spy who works against enemy espionage

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

counter- +‎ spy

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Examples

  • "I Led Three Lives" was on before I was ten years old, and I remembered the term counterspy for years ... with the wrong meaning of counter

    Knowledge is Power 2010

  • Amis meant civil servant as a euphemism for "counterspy," or, stated even more bluntly, a professional assassin.

    Will the Real James Bond Please Stand Up? 2008

  • "Traitor" is an updated variation on the story of the 'counterspy' who is known only to one person in the not-so-safe and not-so-cooperative bureaucracy.

    EclipseMagazine 2009

  • "Traitor" is an updated variation on the story of the 'counterspy' who is known only to one person in the not-so-safe and not-so-cooperative bureaucracy.

    EclipseMagazine 2009

  • The pudgy counterspy was characterized as “a sensitive, dynamic, extremely intelligent man with a fantastic memory.”

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • What the Russians did not know, however, was that he was actually serving as a U.S. counterspy and feeding them only secret documents “approved” by the FBI.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • The pudgy counterspy was characterized as “a sensitive, dynamic, extremely intelligent man with a fantastic memory.”

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • His business setbacks—he had filed for bankruptcy twice—may also have motivated him to seek a new career as a counterspy.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • What the Russians did not know, however, was that he was actually serving as a U.S. counterspy and feeding them only secret documents “approved” by the FBI.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • His business setbacks—he had filed for bankruptcy twice—may also have motivated him to seek a new career as a counterspy.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

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