English > undercover agent: 1 sense > noun 1, person | Meaning | (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors. |
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| Synonym | spy |
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| Category | military, armed forces, armed services, military machine, war machine | The military forces of a nation |
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| Instances | Mata Hari, Margarete Gertrud Zelle | Dutch dancer who was executed by the French as a German spy in World War I (1876-1917) |
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| Narrower | counterspy, mole | A spy who works against enemy / enemy espionage |
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| double agent | A spy who works for two mutually antagonistic countries |
| espionage agent | someone employed to spy on another country or business competitor |
| foreign agent | A spy for a foreign country |
| infiltrator | someone who takes up a position surreptitiously for the purpose of espionage |
| sleeper | A spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal |
| Broader | secret agent, intelligence officer, intelligence agent, operative | A person secretly employed in espionage for a government |
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| Spanish | agente secreto, espia, espía |
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| Catalan | agent secret, espia |
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