police officers

noun

plural of police officer
as in policemen
a member of a force charged with law enforcement at the local level there were police officers directing traffic around the scene of the accident

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of police officers Meanwhile, Brooks called for hiring more police officers, but also creating a 50,000-person Chicago citizen responder group to reduce crime and conduct violence intervention. — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2026 The federal complaint says Miller was stopped by Kansas City police officers on July 24, about four months after he was released from custody in the Chiefs rally shooting case. — Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 8 Sep. 2026 Garcia entered a plea and was convicted of evading police officers before his trial in June. — Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 8 Sep. 2026 Kiritsis and Hall made their way out of the building, where the pair was met by police officers and journalists. — Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 Sep. 2026 Flock Safety, which makes license-plate readers, has been embroiled in a firestorm after revelations that police officers abused their access to the surveillance tech. — J.d. Capelouto, semafor.com, 1 Sep. 2026 From a former 911 director in Dallas to five police officers in Albany, the story of Flock in Georgia has been about misconduct, rather than public safety. — Irene Wright, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026 Those are police officers and people up high at CPD, literally calling me, meeting with us, telling us that morale’s at an all-time low. — Jake Sheridan, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026 Three days after Mehserle was sentenced, two Oakland police officers shot and killed another unarmed Black man, Derrick Jones, near Bancroft Avenue and Trask Street. — Chase Hunter, Mercury News, 25 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for police officers
  1. policemen
  2. officers
  3. cops
  4. constables
Noun
  • The head-on crash that killed two policemen and five joyriders in Middlesbrough in August, and its aftermath, is the latest.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 5 Sep. 2026
  • As a result, the policemen were tried for a second time, in which one officer was found not guilty, and the two others’ charges were ultimately dismissed due to a second hung jury and mistrial.
    — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of policemen
Noun
  • The Washington Post reported last month that authorities have charged or accused at least 50 law enforcement officers of leveraging ALPRs without authorization, sometimes using the software to stalk women.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 7 Sep. 2026
  • Among them is a complaint by four Muslim women in Arizona who sued multiple police departments and Arizona State University after male officers removed their hijabs while arresting them at pro-Palestinian campus protests in 2024.
    — BrieAnna J. Frank, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of officers
Noun
  • Th victim made contact with the bus and was struck, cops said.
    — Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Employees at an O’Reilly Auto Parts in Tucson called the cops on Myers in May 2024.
    — Taylor Seely, AZCentral.com, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of cops
Noun
  • The woman was able to flee the scene and located deputy constables.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 15 July 2026
  • Troopers and Beacon Falls constables responded to the home and detained Drozdowski, state police said.
    — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 6 May 2026
Definition of constables

Browse Nearby Words

police officer
police officers
police reporter
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Police officers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/police%20officers. Accessed 15 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
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!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of quorum

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

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

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

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Popular

See More

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

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All