constable
/ˈkʌn.stə.bəl/US/ˈkɑn.stə.bəl/
constable noun: one holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.).
Noun
constable (plural constables)
- One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
- As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
- A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
- An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
- The warden of a castle.
- An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
- An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
- A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.
Verb
constable (third-person singular simple present constables, present participle constabling, simple past and past participle constabled)
- To act as a constable or policeman.
Proper noun capitalized: Constable
Constable (countable and uncountable, plural Constables)
- An English surname originating as an occupation from Old French conestable (“constable”).
- John Constable, English painter.
- A town in Franklin County, New York; named for landowner William Constable.
constable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali
constable in Hindi
- police officer rank
- आरक्षी ārakṣī
constable in Tamil
- காவலர்
constable in Marathi
- हवालदार, कॉन्स्टेबल
constable in Bengali
- constable
- কোতোয়াল kōtōẇal, সিপাহী sipahī
More languagesFewer languages
- constable in Telugu
- కానిస్టేబుల్, కాన్స్టేబల్, కాన్స్టేబుల్
- constable in Malayalam
- പോലീസുകാരൻ, കോൺസ്റ്റബിൾ
- constable in Kannada
- ಕಾಪಿಗ
- constable in Punjabi
- ਕਾਂਸਟੇਬਲ
- constable in Odia
- କନଷ୍ଟେବଳ, କନେଷ୍ଟବଳ
- constable in Nepali
- कन्स्टेबल, कोन्स्टेबल, कन्स्टेबललाई
- constable in Tagalog
- konstable
- constable in Malay
- konstabel
- constable in Indonesian
- jagabaya
- constable in Persian
- آژان âžân
- constable in Vietnamese
- quản đốc
Examples of constable in a sentence
- The constable was promoted to working as a shadow for the Royals.
- Many people are unhappy with the sacking of the chief constable and demand his immediate reinstatement.
- “Constable Fancy’s collecting evidence from his flat while Morse and me brace Valdemar.”
Synonyms of constable
Forms of constable
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | constables |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | constables |
| present participle | constabling |
| past participle | constabled |
| past | constabled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Constables |
Origin of constable
From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable.
Words formed from constable
- Constablesque
- assistant chief constable
- Burton Constable
- Constable Burton
- constablery
- constableship
- constabless
- constablewick
- constabulary
- cst.
- CST
- deputy chief constable
- hog constable
- Melton Constable
- outrun the constable
- overrun the constable
- police constable
- special constable
- subconstable
- underconstable
Phrases with constable
Questions about constable
- What does constable mean?
- Constable means one holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.).
- What is constable in Hindi?
- Constable in Hindi is आरक्षी (ārakṣī). See Constable meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is constable?
- Constable can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce constable?
- Constable is pronounced /ˈkʌn.stə.bəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of constable?
- The plural of constable is constables.
Words near constable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: constable (page history and authors); Constable (page history and authors); constable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); constable (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); কোতোয়াল (Bengali) (page history and authors); constable (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); constable (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); constable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); constable (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); constable (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); constable (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-constable.wav.
Cite this entry: “constable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/constable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
