pa·trol | \ pə-ˈtrōl 
\
\Definition of patrol
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : the action of traversing a district or beat or of going the rounds along a chain of guards for observation or the maintenance of security
b : the person performing such an action
c : a unit of persons or vehicles employed for reconnaissance, security, or combat
2 : a subdivision of a Boy Scout troop or Girl Scout troop
patrol
verbpatrolled; patrolling
Definition of patrol (Entry 2 of 2)
: to carry out a patrol
: to carry out a patrol of
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Examples of patrol in a Sentence
Noun
The guard makes a patrol of the building every hour.
Soldiers are on patrol along the border.
Army patrols combed the area. Verb
The squad had orders to patrol the area.
The border is patrolled by the army.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Now, dispatchers will assign calls related to mental health, substance abuse, or homelessness to a deputy and a mental health professional who are paired up in a patrol car, according to the county's description of the program.
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CBS News, "California sheriff's department to pair therapists with deputies on some mental health calls," 21 Oct. 2020 Investigators are not sure when it was cut or where the patrol car was parked when the sabotage occurred.
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Fox News, "NYPD cop car in Queens fender bender apparently had its brake line cut," 21 Oct. 2020 According to the sheriff, the exact sequence of events is still unclear, but another deputy's patrol car collided with the vehicle around that time.
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Rebekah Riess And Steve Almasy, CNN, "South Carolina deputy killed and two others injured after traffic stop altercation," 20 Oct. 2020 In the evening, the truck had been replaced by a patrol car.
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Rachel Monroe, The New Yorker, "How to Spot a Military Impostor," 19 Oct. 2020 Alongside his second degree murder charge, Garrett was also charged with criminal damage for reportedly kicking the inside of a patrol car.
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Emily Wilder, The Arizona Republic, "Police arrest suspect in September shooting in Glendale parking lot," 16 Oct. 2020 In the video, Ackman exited his patrol car, took cover behind the driver’s side door and drew his firearm as Garcia appeared to toss his cellphone over his red sedan.
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Michael Williams, SFChronicle.com, "Napa County sheriff’s video shows deputy fatally shoot unarmed man during traffic stop," 14 Oct. 2020 Waterford firefighters loaded the baby into the back seat of the patrol car and continued to perform CPR while a deputy drove.
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Slone Terranella, Detroit Free Press, "Quick-thinking Oakland County deputies, firefighters save life of choking 10-month-old," 13 Oct. 2020 The shooting comes after two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were shot in an apparent ambush earlier this month while sitting in a patrol car parked near a metro stop in Compton, California.
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Charles Ventura, USA TODAY, "LAPD officer injured after shooting inside station, authorities say," 27 Sep. 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Private security guards will once again patrol Tempe parks on a temporary basis as some city leaders push to bring back a park ranger program.
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Paulina Pineda, The Arizona Republic, "Tempe temporarily extends G4S private security at parks, but may restore park rangers as a long-term fix," 13 Oct. 2020 In recent months, transit officials have called for additional uniformed city police officers to patrol the system after riders and transit workers complained of seeing fewer officers in the subway.
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Christina Goldbaum, New York Times, "In Emptier Subways, Violent Crime Is Rising," 12 Oct. 2020 University Hospitals police don’t patrol the neighboring streets.
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David Armstrong, ProPublica, "The Startling Reach and Disparate Impact of Cleveland Clinic’s Private Police Force," 28 Sep. 2020 In a related matter, the association requested a tweak in policy that the union said interferes with detention officers’ efforts to secure lateral transfers from the jail to patrol duty.
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Scott Huddleston, ExpressNews.com, "Jail working conditions compared to that of ‘coal mine’," 10 Sep. 2020 Also, starting Thursday, troopers from the Indiana State Police Alliance, which offers security services, will patrol the properties nightly from 5:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., in marked police vehicles.
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Allie Kirkman, The Indianapolis Star, "Notre Dame hires more security after students placed in quarantine violate rules," 27 Aug. 2020 Besides the private police agencies, the city police patrol the area, as does the Greater Cleveland Regional Authority Transit Police Department.
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David Armstrong, ProPublica, "The Startling Reach and Disparate Impact of Cleveland Clinic’s Private Police Force," 28 Sep. 2020 The three-member teams patrol the city’s south central neighborhoods.
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Kevin Krause, Dallas News, "New Dallas budget boosts police funding. Here’s 4 other things you didn’t know," 25 Sep. 2020 To patrol a smoldering city in the two weeks after George Floyd’s death, Minneapolis shelled out more than $3.3 million in police overtime costs — roughly 37 times more than normal, pushing the department past its annual budget.
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Maryjo Webster, Star Tribune, "Minneapolis paid more than $3.3 million in police overtime in wake of George Floyd's death," 24 Sep. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'patrol.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for patrol
patrol
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of patrol
(Entry 1 of 2)
: the act of walking or going around or through an area, building, etc., in order to make sure that it is safe : the act of patrolling an area
: a group of people, vehicles, etc., that go through an area to make sure that it is safe : a group that patrols an area
patrol
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of patrol (Entry 2 of 2)
: to walk or go around or through (an area, building, etc.) especially in order to make sure that it is safe
See the full definition for patrol in the English Language Learners Dictionary
patrol
nounpa·trol | \ pə-ˈtrōl \
\Kids Definition of patrol
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : the action of going around an area to make sure that it is safe
2 : a person or group going around an area to make sure that it is safe
3 : a part of a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop
patrol
verbpatrolled; patrolling
Kids Definition of patrol (Entry 2 of 2)
: to go around an area for the purpose of watching or protecting
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Time Traveler for patrol
The first known use of patrol was in 1648
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