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

When a former Italian policeman named Pasquale Camera was killed in a car crash in 1995, investigators found a stash of Polaroid pictures of antiquities in the glove compartment. —Lianne Kolirin, CNN Money, 13 Dec. 2025

In the last section of her piece Didion pivots to a more writerly register, drawing out how policemen have become unreliable narrators in the public square. —Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025

While Kardashian was staying at the No Address Hotel for Paris Fashion Week in October 2016, five men dressed as policemen allegedly broke into her room and tied up her hands and feet before putting her in a bathtub. —Catherine Santino, PEOPLE, 4 Dec. 2025

And Zya wanted her daddy to be a policeman. —Dan Pompei, New York Times, 2 Dec. 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)