spymaster

noun

spy·​mas·​ter ˈspī-ˌma-stər How to pronounce spymaster (audio)
: the head of a ring of spies : a director of intelligence

Examples of spymaster in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Cary Grant was never more suave and effortless than as Roger Thornhill, an unsuspecting ad man mistaken for a government agent by an ever-widening gang of thugs, spies, and an anti-American spymaster (James Mason). Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 5 Apr. 2024 When her secret lover Jason (Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Whishaw) to keep her safe. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 22 Mar. 2024 Moments of slick banter between Jackson's spymaster Nick Fury and his British counterpart, played by Olivia Colman, are totally undercut by rote superhero storylines involving alien terrorists played by Emilia Clarke and Kingsley Ben-Adir. TIME, 13 Oct. 2023 Hines’ Allan can’t really do much more with his role than play up the film noir ambiance of spymaster scenes that have an inserted feeling. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2024 As Russian intelligence portrays it, the war pits the United States and Europe against Russia, with the Ukrainians serving merely as the puppets of their Western spymasters. Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 27 Dec. 2023 The book ends with a doctor performing surgery on a bedroom table to save the life of his teen-age son, who has shot himself in the chest after killing a Nazi spymaster who made advances toward him. Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2023 Only Frances Coffey, the CIA’s most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. Charna Flam, Variety, 28 Sep. 2023 Many wives functioned as clandestine extensions of their spymaster husbands. TIME, 18 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'spymaster.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1938, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of spymaster was in 1938

Dictionary Entries Near spymaster

Cite this Entry

“Spymaster.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spymaster. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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