Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
dictionary thesaurus view recents

police officer

noun
Save Word

Definition of police officer

: a member of a police force
Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about police officer

Keep scrolling for more

Synonyms for police officer

Synonyms

Visit the Thesaurus for More 

Examples of police officer in a Sentence

there were police officers directing traffic around the scene of the accident
Recent Examples on the Web Gregory McMichael had been a Glynn County police officer from 1982 to 1989, and later worked as an investigator in the local prosecutor’s office, before retiring last year. — Richard Fausset, New York Times, "Georgia Killing Puts Spotlight on a Police Force’s Troubled History," 8 May 2020 Alexander’s father was a gang squad police officer and wanted to speak to the coach. — Mick Mccabe, Detroit Free Press, "Giant in Catholic league basketball coaching community Joe Charnley dies at 69," 7 May 2020 Instead, former Notre Dame long snapper John Shannon is preparing to become a police officer. — Tyler James, Indianapolis Star, "Notre Dame football: Long snapper pursues law enforcement career," 6 May 2020 The first: No one knew which remote Alaska villages had police officers of any kind. — ProPublica, "ProPublica and Local Reporting Partner Anchorage Daily News Win Pulitzer Prizes for National Reporting and Public Service," 4 May 2020 Abdallah, who served as the lead detective on the case, is now a police officer in the Detroit suburb of Harper Woods. — NBC News, "Exonerated man freed from prison, now in hotel quarantine: 'I could watch Netflix!'," 26 Apr. 2020 Melissa considers the pair, who were career police officers in Chicago, to be her superheroes. — Rebecca Norris, Country Living, "Melissa McCarthy Joined The Property Brothers on ‘Celebrity IOU’ for a Hilarious and Heartwarming Reno," 21 Apr. 2020 Before joining the News as a police reporter in 1966, Clements was a San Antonio police officer. — John Maccormack, ExpressNews.com, "Clements led ink-stained troops in newspaper war," 20 Apr. 2020 Walker, a seven-year veteran of the department assigned to the Central Patrol division in downtown Dallas, is the first city police officer to recover from the respiratory illness COVID-19. — Cassandra Jaramillo, Dallas News, "First Dallas Police officer recovers from COVID-19 and returns to work," 9 Apr. 2020

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

See More

First Known Use of police officer

1797, in the meaning defined above

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about police officer

Time Traveler for police officer

Time Traveler

The first known use of police officer was in 1797

See more words from the same year

Statistics for police officer

Last Updated

12 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Police officer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/police%20officer. Accessed 24 May. 2020.

Keep scrolling for more

More Definitions for police officer

police officer

noun

English Language Learners Definition of police officer

: a person whose job is to enforce laws, investigate crimes, and make arrests : a member of the police

See the full definition for police officer in the English Language Learners Dictionary

police officer

noun

Kids Definition of police officer

: a member of a police force

Keep scrolling for more

More from Merriam-Webster on police officer

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for police officer

Spanish Central: Translation of police officer

Nglish: Translation of police officer for Spanish Speakers

Comments on police officer

What made you want to look up police officer? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Show Comments  Hide Comments 

WORD OF THE DAY

xeriscape

Listen to the pronunciation of xeriscape

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Obscure Shapes

  • a pile of three dimensional shapes in green
  • Something that is ooid is shaped like:
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ
Citation

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games