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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
Lisa Stardust, refinery29.com, 6 Dec. 2024
Both the police and the couple themselves start to close in on the voyeur, who is presumed to be the kidnapper.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2024
The ability to be a voyeur into your holiday season.
—Margaux Anbouba, Vogue, 15 Dec. 2024
Online, hundreds of thousands of people have become voyeurs in her saga.
—Angela Watercutter, WIRED, 4 Oct. 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 22 Jan. 2025.
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