Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Equipped with hidden listening devices: Describes a place, object, or vehicle that has been secretly fitted with electronic surveillance equipment, typically a microphone or transmitter, to monitor conversations covertly.

Usage

The adjective "bugged" is used to describe the state of a location or item that has been compromised for surveillance. It is often used in contexts related to espionage, law enforcement, investigations, or paranoia about privacy. - It typically follows a linking verb like "is," "was," or "are." - It can be used attributively before a noun (e.g., "a bugged phone") or predicatively after a verb (e.g., "The room was bugged").

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The investigators discovered the office was bugged.
  • They held the meeting in the park, fearing the conference room was bugged.
  • He suspected his phone had been bugged.

Advanced Usage

• "to get/be bugged": to become or to be under electronic surveillance.
  • The journalist was paranoid that her apartment had gotten bugged.
• Used figuratively to imply a feeling of being watched or monitored, even if not literally true.
  • After the strange phone calls, she felt like her life was bugged.

Variants and Related Words

• Bug (noun): A hidden microphone or other eavesdropping device.
  • They found a bug planted in the lampshade.
• Bug (verb): To install a hidden listening device; to eavesdrop electronically.
  • The spy bugged the ambassador's car.
• Debug (verb): To remove bugs (listening devices); in computing, to find and remove errors in software.
  • The technician was hired to debug the secure office.

Synonyms

• Wired: Equipped with hidden microphones or recording devices.
• Tapped: Having a communications line monitored (often specifically for phones).
• Under surveillance: Being watched or monitored, though not exclusively electronically.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Bug out (phrasal verb): This is unrelated to surveillance. It is informal and means to leave quickly or to bulge outward.
  • We need to bug out before the storm hits. (Meaning: to depart hastily)

Related Idioms

• No common idioms are directly formed from the adjective "bugged." The related noun "bug" features in idioms like:
  • "To have a bug in one's ear": To have a persistent idea or suggestion.

    • He has a bug in his ear about starting his own business.
  • "To put a bug in someone's ear": To give someone a hint or suggestion.

    • I'll put a bug in her ear about the job opening.

Adjective

1. having hidden electronic eavesdropping devices
   • wired hotel rooms
   • even the car is bugged