police

Syllables: po·lice/pəˈliːs/

police noun: a constituted body of officers representing the civil authority of government, empowered to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law, and prevent, detect, and investigate crime. Also the alternative form of policy.

Noun

police pl (normally plural, singular police)

(plural, plural-normally) A constituted body of officers representing the civil authority of government, empowered to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law, and prevent, detect, and investigate crime.
- There are nine Principles of Police:
  ...
  7 To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to...1943, Charles Reith, British Police and the Democratic Ideal, pp. 3–4
- ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
1. (Canada, US, historical, plural, plural-normally) A department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement.
  - The Cook County Sheriff's Department has jurisdiction across most of Chicago but focuses on the unincorporated area and tasks like prisoner transport, leaving the rest to the Chicago Police Department.
2. (UK, plural, plural-normally) A branch of the Home Office responsible for general law enforcement within a specific territory.
  - Scotland Yard is, technically speaking, only the metropolitan police for Greater London but because of their importance they have special jurisdiction for some crimes across the United Kingdom.
3. (Australia, New Zealand, plural, plural-normally) Any of the formally enacted law enforcement agencies at various levels of government.
(plural, plural-normally, plural-only, usually) The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.
- Pearlman: Very clever, Lester. You got it all figured, huh?
  Freamon: Me? I'm just a police.2006 Sept. 17, David Mills, "Soft Eyes", The Wire, 00:06:50
- This time it is the worst kind of call a murder police can get.2006, David Simon, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, →ISBN, page 440
(derogatory, figuratively, ironic, mildly, plural, plural-normally) People who try to enforce norms or standards as if granted authority similar to the police.
- Who called the fashion police?
- Then there were the taste police, who thought that this bulky modern machine was an inappropriate intrusion […]2010, Mary Beard, It's a Don's Life, →ISBN, page 147
(plural, plural-normally, slang) Cleanup of a military facility, as a formal duty.
- Q. […] What did you do that day? — A. I was cleaning up around quarters.
  Q. You had been on guard and went on police duty? You were policing, cleaning up around the barracks? — A. Yes, sir.1907, Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, concerning the Affray at Brownsville, Tex. on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906, volume 2
(archaic, plural, plural-normally) Synonym of administration, the regulation of a community or society.
- The notion of ‘police’ – that is, rational administration – was seen as a historical force which could bring civilized improvement to societies.2002, Colin Jones, The Greta Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 218
Synonyms:

administration

Verb

police (third-person singular simple present polices, present participle policing, simple past and past participle policed)

(transitive) To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).
- Extra security was hired to police the crowd at the big game.
- Smith returns in Men In Black 3 as a veteran agent of a secret organization dedicated to policing the earth’s many extraterrestrials.2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club
(ambitransitive, slang) To clean up an area.
- This comes to him through the company housekeeping, for in the field each organization takes care of itself, cooks its own food, makes its own beds, does its own policing (cleaning up); […]1900, Proceedings of the eighth annual meeting, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States
- Q. […] What did you do that day? — A. I was cleaning up around quarters.
  Q. You had been on guard and went on police duty? You were policing, cleaning up around the barracks? — A. Yes, sir.1907, Hearings Before the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, concerning the Affray at Brownsville, Tex. on the Night of August 13 and 14, 1906, volume 2
(figuratively, transitive) To enforce norms or standards upon.
- to police a person's identity

Also used as

police is also the alternative form of policy.

police is also the alternative form of polity.

police meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

police in Hindi

local or general law enforcement agency: आरक्षी ārakṣī, पुलिस pulis

police in Tamil

local or general law enforcement agency: காவல் kāval, போலீஸ் pōlīs

police in Marathi

local or general law enforcement agency: पोलीस polīs

police in Urdu

local or general law enforcement agency: پُولِس pūlis, پُولِیس pūlīs, شُرْطَہ śurta, پاسْبان pāsbān

More languagesFewer languages

police in Bengali: পুলিশ puliś, আরক্ষী arokkhi, নিরাপত্তারক্ষী nirapottarokkhi
police in Telugu: రక్షక దళము rakṣaka daḷamu, పోలీసు pōlīsu
police in Malayalam: പോലീസ് pōlīsŭ
police in Kannada: ಪೊಲೀಸ್ polīs
police in Punjabi: ਪੁਲਿਸ pulis
police in Gujarati: પોલીસ polīs
police in Odia: ପୁଲିସ୍ pulis
police in Sinhala: පොලීසිය polīsiya
police in Assamese: পুলিচ pulis, আৰক্ষী arokhi, নিৰাপত্তাৰক্ষী nirapottarokhi
police in Nepali: प्रहरी prahari
police in Pashto: پوليس polis
police in Tagalog: pulis, pulisya
police in Arabic: شُرْطَة šurṭa, بُولِيس būlīs
police in Malay: polis, polisi, serdadu, mata-mata
police in Indonesian: polisi
police in Thai: ตำรวจ dtam-rùuat, โปลิศ bpoo-lít
police in Vietnamese: cảnh sát, công an
police in Myanmar: ရဲ rai:, ပုလိပ် pu.lip

Examples of police in a sentence

Police! help! Police! help!
In the criminal justice system, the People are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders.1990 Sept. 13, David Black & al., "Prescription for Death", Law & Order, 00:00:01
Citadel Security is a volunteer police service answering to the Citadel Council.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel Station: Citadel Security...
The rally on Sunday in Victoria Park, in the Causeway Bay district, was authorized in advance by the police.2019 August 11, Mike Ives, “Hong Kong Protesters Gather Amid Fears of Mob Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
A major drama has broken out in France after the local language police decreed one of their cute little accents to be largely redundant2016 February 5, “How the circumflex became France's bête noire”, in The Guardian:

All 40 example sentences with police

Synonyms of police

26 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of police

Forms of police

Noun
singular	police
Verb
third-person singular present	polices
present participle	policing
past participle	policed
past	policed

Past tense of police: policed

Origin of police

From Middle French police, from Latin polītīa (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía). Doublet of policy, polis (“police”), and polity.

Words formed from police

Phrases with police

88 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with police

31 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about police

What does police mean?: Police means a constituted body of officers representing the civil authority of government, empowered to maintain public order and safety, enforce the law, and prevent, detect, and investigate crime.
What is police in Hindi?: Police in Hindi is आरक्षी (ārakṣī), पुलिस (pulis). See Police meaning in Hindi.
How do you use police in a sentence?: Police! help! Police! help!
What part of speech is police?: Police can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce police?: Police is pronounced /pəˈliːs/.

Words near police in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: police (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-police.ogg, en-us-police.ogg.

Cite this entry: “police.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/police. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.