police procedural

noun

plural police procedurals
: a mystery story written from the point of view of the police investigating the crime

Examples of police procedural in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The network confirmed in November 2023 that the long-running police procedural will conclude with its 14th and final season, which will be split into two parts. Esther Kang, Peoplemag, 8 May 2024 Born June 3, 1949, Gelder made his first appearances on British television in 1972, appearing in the police procedural New Scotland Yard. Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 May 2024 That’s the premise behind Netflix’s new supernatural series Dead Boy Detectives, which combines the magical world-building of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman universe with the case-of-the-week structure of a police procedural. EW.com, 3 May 2024 Carried out in public — on L.A. freeways in broad daylight — the heists have a brazen quality befitting an action movie, or at least a TV police procedural. Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2024 The news comes as the police procedural, which is based on the Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent novels, has aired five episodes of its second season. Joe Otterson, Variety, 3 Apr. 2024 The hit police procedural, also starring Joe Mantegna, Thomas Gibson, Matthew Gray Gubler, Shemar Moore, Mandy Patinkin, and Kirsten Vangsness, aired for 15 seasons between 2005 and 2020 and spawned several spinoffs. Jessica Wang, EW.com, 18 Jan. 2024 Since debuting in 2018, the ABC police procedural has sustained faithful viewership amid both internal and industrywide obstacles, including the pandemic and most recently, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Feb. 2024 The remainder of High and Low is one of the strongest police procedurals of all time. Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'police procedural.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of police procedural was in 1963

Dictionary Entries Near police procedural

Cite this Entry

“Police procedural.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/police%20procedural. Accessed 12 May. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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