Standard Lemma guide

sousveillance

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /suːˈveɪləns/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The recording of an activity from the perspective of participant in the activity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Countersurveillance, inverse surveillance.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Veillance by the masses, of the dominant entities.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by Canadian wearable computing researcher and professor Steve Mann, from surveillance and French sous (“under”) (as opposed to sur (“over”) as in surveillance).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: kansalaisvalvonta — recording
  • French: sousveillance — recording
  • Italian: subveglianza — recording