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citizen's arrest

noun

Definition of citizen's arrest

: an arrest made not by a law officer but by a citizen who derives authority from the fact of being a citizen

Examples of citizen's arrest in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 Martin made a citizen's arrest, according to a County of Riverside Sheriff's Department Order of Arrest. — Amir Vera, CNN, "A California man was beaten after being mistaken for a suspected child predator," 18 Aug. 2019 O'Malley said in the release that citizen's arrests are legal, but dangerous. — Cory Shaffer, cleveland.com, "County prosecutors say trio who brought teen car thieves to police station in trunk of car committed no felonies," 14 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'citizen's arrest.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of citizen's arrest

1940, in the meaning defined above

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Statistics for citizen's arrest

Last Updated

25 Aug 2019

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Time Traveler for citizen's arrest

The first known use of citizen's arrest was in 1940

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More Definitions for citizen's arrest

citizen's arrest

noun

English Language Learners Definition of citizen's arrest

: an arrest made by a citizen rather than by the police

See the full definition for citizen's arrest in the English Language Learners Dictionary

citizen's arrest

Legal Definition of citizen's arrest

see arrest

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Rhyming Dictionary: Words that rhyme with citizen's arrest

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