patrol car

noun

: a police automobile connected with headquarters by a two-way radio or computer : squad car
Placing an unarmed, compliant juvenile in the back of a patrol car transformed an investigatory stop into an arrest, the 9th Circuit held …The National Law Journal

Examples of patrol car in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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She was also placed in the warm patrol car. Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026 One trooper stopped behind the car — a 2021 Honda sedan — and as a second trooper tried to block it in by stopping in front of the car, a 2001 Hummer struck the second trooper's patrol car. Austen Erblat, CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026 The charges stem from an incident on March 21 of last year, when Safar repeatedly struck a Florence Township patrol car while the officer inside was responding to a collision, later learned to have been caused by the teen. Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 24 Jan. 2026 The crash involved one BSO patrol car and two other cars, according to the police scanner. Milena Malaver, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for patrol car

Word History

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of patrol car was in 1926

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Cite this Entry

“Patrol car.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/patrol%20car. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.

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