policeman

noun

po·​lice·​man pə-ˈlēs-mən 

1

: a member of a police force

2

: one held to resemble a policeman

… making the United States the policeman for the whole wide world.

—R. B. Long

Synonyms of policeman

• cop
• officer
• constable

Examples of policeman in a Sentence

reported the crime to the nearest policeman

Recent Examples on the Web

Three years later, in 1879, a newspaper correspondent noted that only two men had been killed during the summer and joked that Dodge’s policemen had been forced to target practice on tin oyster cans to keep up on their gun skills. —Literary Hub, 18 Nov. 2025

When his second-in-command finds love and wants to get out of the criminal life, things get bad for Tee Yai, but when a newly motivated policeman dedicates himself to catching him no matter what the cost, things get really wild. —PC Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025

Otacilio de Souza Ferraz was a military policeman from Recife and was called upon as part of the security team 57 years ago. —Simon Perry, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025

The mission resulted in the deaths of six Israeli coaches, five athletes, one West German policeman and five of the terrorists. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 6 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1788, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for policeman

• policemen

Kids Definition

policeman

noun

po·​lice·​man pə-ˈlē-smən 

: police officer

Medical Definition

policeman

noun

po·​lice·​man pə-ˈlēs-mən 

plural policemen -mən 

: an instrument (as a flat piece of rubber on a glass rod) for removing solids from a vessel (as a beaker)