stay-behind

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stay-behind

noun stay-behinds · stay behind

idiomatic One who remains when expected to leave or after others have left. In areas where stay-behinds could be a threat, however, motion detectors should be used.
An agent who resides in a foreign country, and can be activated in certain circumstances. a. 2000, Sam Halpern, Quoted in 2000, James Srodes, Allen Dulles: Master of Spies, page 545, Bobby Kennedy believed the Mafia had lots of interests in and people in Cuba; he was absolutely convinced that they had left stay-behinds in Cuba and all they had to do was tap into those stay-behinds.

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MLA

"stay-behind." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/stay-behind. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

stay-behind. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/stay-behind

Chicago

"stay-behind." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/stay-behind.

BibTeX

@misc{stay_behind_2026,
  title = {stay-behind},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/stay-behind},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}