good cop/bad cop
good cop/bad cop is the alternative form of good cop bad cop.
Meaning of good cop bad cop
Noun
good cop bad cop (uncountable)
- A psychological tactic used for interrogation, involving one police officer playing the role of intimidating adversary, and another that of friend with whom the subject is encouraged to bond.
- Synonyms:
- Mutt and Jeff
- An analogous negotiation or interrogation tactic.
Proper noun capitalized: Good Cop/Bad Cop
Good Cop/Bad Cop
- Alternative form of good cop bad cop.
- They watched as the interrogators played “Good Cop/Bad Cop.” The one who spoke first was friendly and fair. The other was hostile and scary.1988, Franklin W. Dixon, Dead on Target, Simon Pulse, →ISBN
- Korine didn’t dignify his question with an answer. It was strange. She felt that Sudley was enjoying her discomfiture. She’d heard of policemen playing Good Cop/Bad Cop. She hoped that the Good Cop would arrive soon.2001, Julie Wray Herman, Three Dirty Women and the Bitter Brew, The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 40
Questions about good cop/bad cop
- What is good cop/bad cop the alternative form of?
- Good cop/bad cop is the alternative form of good cop bad cop.
- What part of speech is good cop/bad cop?
- Good cop/bad cop is a proper noun.
Words near good cop/bad cop in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: good cop/bad cop (page history and authors); Good Cop/Bad Cop (page history and authors); good cop bad cop (page history and authors). 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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Cite this entry: “good cop/bad cop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/good_cop%2Fbad_cop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.