POLICE ACTION Synonyms: 29 Similar and Opposite Words

police action

noun

Definition of police action

as in civil war

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for police action

Noun

Syria's nearly 14-year civil war has ended, but the economy is still struggling, while inflation has ratcheted up the cost of living in the last year.

— Emily Feng, NPR, 30 Sep. 2026
And the country [in the midst of a brutal 3+ year civil war] is in major crisis.

— Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2026

Definition of civil war

Noun

The Saudis, then mired in a regional cold war with Iran, viewed the Houthis as an Iranian proxy force that threatened the kingdom’s borders.

— Kareem Fahim, New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2026
During Wallace and Shakur’s own rift, Knight and Combs’ own cold war simmered and ran even hotter than many initially believed.

— Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of cold war

Noun

Born in 1946, in a country recovering from a civil war and a world war, Rodríguez entered a life marked by poverty in the southern Spanish village of Añora.

— Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
But for the most part, today’s athletes weren’t shaped by the Great Depression and a world war.

— Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of world war

Noun

In this scenario, which may already be coming to fruition, the meager hope is that the conflict transforms into simply a more limited war.

— Daniel Byman, Foreign Affairs, 5 Apr. 2024
Many scholars panned the book, believing its 34-year-old author had overestimated the nation’s ability to keep limited war limited.

— David E. Sanger, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2023

Definition of limited war

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

police

police action

police actions

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Police action.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/police%20action. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of police action

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

adventitious

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 2

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes