police

1 of 2

noun

plural police

often attributive

1

a

: the department of government concerned primarily with maintenance of public order, safety, and health and enforcement of laws and possessing executive, judicial, and legislative powers

b

: the department of government charged with prevention, detection, and prosecution of public nuisances and crimes

2

a

: police force

b

plural : police officers

3

a

: a private organization resembling a police force

campus police

b

plural : the members of a private police organization

4

: one attempting to regulate or censor a specified field or activity

the fashion police

5

a

: the internal organization or regulation of a political unit through exercise of governmental powers especially with respect to general comfort, health, morals, safety, or prosperity

b

: control and regulation of affairs affecting the general order and welfare of any unit or area

c

: the system of laws for effecting such control

6

a

: the action or process of cleaning and putting in order

b

: military personnel detailed to perform this function

police

2 of 2

verb

po·​lice pə-ˈlēs 

policed; policing

transitive verb

1

: to control, regulate, or keep in order by use of police

2

: to perform the functions of a police force in or over

3

a

: to supervise the operation, execution, or administration of to prevent or detect and prosecute violations of rules and regulations

b

: to exercise such supervision over the policies and activities of

4

: to make clean and put in order

5

archaic : govern

Synonyms

Noun

• law

Examples of police in a Sentence

Noun

Police arrested a man whom they identified as the murderer.

the appearance of a ransom note meant that the teenager's disappearance was now a matter for the police

Verb

The officers police the streets for reckless drivers.

The coast is policed by the military.

The international agency polices the development of atomic energy facilities.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Conway police first posted about the incident on Facebook just after 8:30 a.m. Saturday. —Remington Miller, arkansasonline.com, 6 Apr. 2024

The killing is the 38th homicide in Kansas City in 2024, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. —Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 6 Apr. 2024

The state police's Underwater Recovery Team then deployed multiple dive teams who found Suazo-Sandoval. —Brian Brant, Peoplemag, 6 Apr. 2024

Social media photos and videos of the events show police physically pushing student reporters out of the room, and closing window blinds to prevent them from documenting the situation. —Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024

Locals were invited to claim cobble stones as souvenirs from the famous street on Saturday, after police tore down the booths. —Reuters, CNN, 6 Apr. 2024

Fighting has broken out in Haiti’s capital since late February as gangs have battled police for control of Port-au-Prince. —Ashley Carnahan, Fox News, 6 Apr. 2024

Margera, 44, had originally been cited August 9, 2023, after Radnor, Pa., police were called about an argument between a man and woman at the Radnor Hotel, according to a source. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 25 Mar. 2024

Kansas City police recovered several guns, spent casings and other evidence. —Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 25 Mar. 2024

Verb

Except policing the nascent technology isn’t easy, as Hyder’s principal, Mike Baird, wrote in a message to parents. —Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 28 Mar. 2024

The first time the event will be held outside of a stadium, the picturesque Parisian backdrop will bring all sorts of riddles over how to police the 3.5-mile route’s countless rooftops and residential balconies. —Keir Simmons, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024

Michael Calore: No, don't police my television watching pace. —Lauren Goode, WIRED, 21 Mar. 2024

Combined with understaffed federal agencies, advocates say the industry is essentially policing itself. —Ella Nilsen, CNN, 20 Mar. 2024

The case has drawn the scrutiny of development experts and lawmakers, amid suggestions that the World Bank failed to police how its money was being used and even took steps to cover up wrongdoing. —Alan Rappeport, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2024

But some policing experts say officers have a moral obligation to inform families as soon as possible. —Brian Howey, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2024

Nathaniel Rowland reported to police that his wife inflicted the cutting wound herself. —Emerson Clarridge, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Mar. 2024

The woman subsequently took a screenshot of the interaction and reported it to police on the same day. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 20 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, "regulation of public affairs," borrowed from Middle French, "administrative organization, conduct of a collective body (as the government or church)," borrowed from Late Latin polītīa "citizenship, political organization, constitution of a state, administrative direction" (Latin, the title of Plato's dialogue The Republic), borrowed from Greek polīteía "body of citizens, citizenship, government, administration, constitution of a state, republican government," collective or abstract derivative of polī́tēs "citizen, freeman," from pólis "citadel, city, community of citizens, city-state" + -ītēs -ite entry 1; pólis going back to o-grade ablaut of an Indo-European base *pelH-, whence also, from zero-grade *pl̥H-, Sanskrit púr-, pū́ḥ "wall, rampart," Lithuanian pilìs "fortress, castle," Latvian pils

Note: The sense "government body charged with the maintenance of public order," apparently first current in Scotland in the eighteenth century or earlier, was borrowed from French, where it originated in the seventeenth century as a concretization of an earlier more abstract sense "public order." Middle French police is a doublet of policie policy entry 1; police developed from a variant of Late Latin polītīa with stress shifted to the second syllable, policie from a form with stress on the third syllable, its expected position by Latin stress rules. In English before ca. 1700 police appears to have usually been stressed on the first syllable (as also policy); this pronunciation remains regional in the British isles and the U.S. — Greek has a variant ptólis that occurs in Homer and in dialects (Cypriot, Thessalian, Arcadian). R. Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009) suggests as an Indo-European reconstruction *tpolH- to account for this. The sequence -oli- in this word, with what appears to be o-grade, has been explained as a regular outcome of *-l̥h₁- in Greek, which would make pólis directly comparable to Sanskrit púr-, pū́ḥ (see discussion in A.L. Sihler, Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, 1995, p. 104; and K. Strunk, "Verkannte Spuren eines weiteren Tiefstufentyps im Griechischen," Glotta, Band 47 [1969], pp. 1-8).

Verb

in sense 5 borrowed from Middle French policier "to administer, govern, control," derivative of police "administrative organization"; in other senses verbal derivative of police entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1698, in the meaning defined at sense 5a

Verb

1589, in the meaning defined at sense 5

Phrases Containing police

• air police
• anti-police
• chief of police
• kitchen police
• military police
• police action
• police car
• police constable
• police court
• police cruiser
• police dog
• police force
• police officer
• police power
• police procedural
• police reporter
• police state
• police station
• secret police
• security police
• the secret police

Kids Definition

police

1 of 2 verb

po·​lice pə-ˈlēs 

policed; policing

1

: to control, regulate, or keep in order by use of police

police a city

2

: to make clean and put in order

police the area

police

2 of 2 noun

plural police

1

: the department of government that keeps order and enforces law, investigates crimes, and makes arrests

2

plural : members of a police force

3

: a private or military force like a police force

campus police

Legal Definition

police

1 of 2 transitive verb

po·​lice

policed; policing

: to control, regulate, or keep in order especially as an official duty

police the area

police

2 of 2 noun

plural police

1

: the control and regulation of affairs affecting the order and welfare of a political unit and its citizens

2

a

: the department of a government or other institution that maintains order and safety and enforces laws

b

: police force

c

plural : the members of a police force