Definition of plainclothes
:dressed in civilian clothes while on duty
—used especially of a police officer
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Recent Examples of plainclothes from the Web
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Ruud was arrested without incident at a Springfield bus stop Monday night by personnel from the Ozark County Sheriff's Office and two plainclothes Springfield police officers who were conducting surveillance at the bus station.
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Plainclothes officers blended in with guests inside the hotel.
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The Dubuque Police Department will resort to putting plainclothes officers in unmarked cars just to catch people in the act.
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Police do not have any suspects in the thefts, Peach said, adding that police will be on additional patrols in Rodgers Forge that might include unmarked cars and plainclothes officers.
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Nathan Asbury, who was working a plainclothes assignment at the time of his testimony and didn't want to jeopardize the safety of officers working with him.
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A plainclothes security official approaches journalists outside an apartment complex where Liu Xia, widow of late Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, lives in Beijing, Wednesday, July 18, 2017.
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Earlier Thursday, many plainclothes security agents could be seen stationed at the hospital’s entrance and inside the crowded facility.
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The Massachusetts State Police Marine Unit and Air Wing also will be patrolling the Charles River during the event, along with plainclothes troopers, local police, trained dogs and federal bomb detection teams on the ground.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plainclothes.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of plainclothes
1856
PLAINCLOTHES Defined for English Language Learners
plainclothes
play
adjective
Definition of plainclothes for English Language Learners
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: dressed in ordinary clothes and not a uniform while on duty
Law Dictionary
plainclothes
play
adjective
plain·clothes
\
ˈplān-ˈklōz, -ˈklōt͟hz
\
legal Definition of plainclothes
:dressed in civilian clothes while on duty
—used especially of a police officer
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