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watchdog. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
watchdog, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
watchdog in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
watchdog you have here. The definition of the word
watchdog will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
watchdog, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
watch + dog
Pronunciation
Noun
watchdog (plural watchdogs)
- A guard dog.
- (figurative) An individual or group that monitors the activities of another entity (such as an individual, corporation, non-profit group, or governmental organization) on behalf of the public to ensure that entity does not behave illegally or unethically.
2020 May 20, “Network News: Watchdogs say clear guidance needed to reassure passengers”, in Rail, page 9:Governments must "outline how they will reassure passengers that it will be as safe as possible to travel by public transport", according to industry watchdogs Transport Focus and London TravelWatch.
2022 January 9, Dan Milmo, “UK data watchdog seeks talks with Meta over child protection concerns”, in The Guardian:The UK’s data watchdog is seeking clarification from Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta about parental controls on its popular virtual reality headset, as campaigners warned that it could breach an online children’s safety code.
- (electronics, computing) Ellipsis of watchdog timer.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
individual or group that monitors
- Bulgarian: пазител (bg) m (pazitel)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 監視人／监视人 (jiānshìrén), 監管機構／监管机构 (jiānguǎn jīgòu)
- Finnish: vahtikoira (fi)
- Italian: cerbero (it) m
- Japanese: 監視委員会 (kanshi iinkai), 監視者 (かんししゃ, kanshisha), 監視人 (かんしにん, kanshinin)
- Portuguese: vigilância (pt) f
- Romanian: arbitru (ro) m, organism de control n
- Russian: контролёр (ru) m (kontroljór)
- Swedish: tillsynsorgan n (organization), tillsyningsman (sv) c (person), tillsynsman (sv) c (person), vakthund c, väktare (sv) c, kontrollorgan (sv) n (organization), övervakningsorgan n (organization)
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Verb
watchdog (third-person singular simple present watchdogs, present participle watchdogging, simple past and past participle watchdogged)
- To perform a function analogous to that of a watchdog; to guard and warn.
- (electronics) To be continuously reset by a watchdog timer.
Translations
Anagrams