police state
police state noun: a political entity, usually a state, whose government exercises strict and repressive control of its people.
Noun
police state (plural police states)
- A political entity, usually a state, whose government exercises strict and repressive control of its people.
- You didn't know there is […] an active campaign, propaganda and otherwise, […] against all kinds of security procedures on the ground that they are all police state methods and all interfere with individual rights?1964 September 16, J. G. Sourwine, “Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigatee the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary...
- [Mo:] But out there in the real world they're bombing abortion clinics... holding Nazi and KKK rallies... trying to quarantine people who might have AIDS. They're making secret weapons deals to illegally fund so-called "freedom fighters" and calling it "the Lord's work"!! We're living in a...1987, Alison Bechdel, “High Anxiety”, in Dykes to Watch Out For
police state meaning in Hindi, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay
police state in Hindi
- political entity whose government controls people by using police
- पुलिस राज्य pulis rājya
police state in Tagalog
- political entity whose government controls people by using police
- estadong pulis
police state in Arabic
- political entity whose government controls people by using police
- دَوْلَة بُولِيسِيَّة dawla būlīsiyya, دَوْلَة شُرْطِيَّة dawla šurṭiyya
police state in Malay
- political entity whose government controls people by using police
- negara polis
More languagesFewer languages
- police state in Indonesian
- negara polisi
- police state in Vietnamese
- nhà nước cảnh sát
Forms of police state
| plural | police states |
|---|
Origin of police state
Likely a calque of German Polizeistaat adopted following the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 and the ensuing Demagogenverfolgungen, culminating in the crackdown of liberal and anarchical movements popular in the 1840s during the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Equivalent to police + state.
Questions about police state
- What does police state mean?
- Police state means a political entity, usually a state, whose government exercises strict and repressive control of its people.
- What is police state in Hindi?
- Police state in Hindi is पुलिस राज्य (pulis rājya). See Police state meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is police state?
- Police state is a noun.
- What is the plural of police state?
- The plural of police state is police states.
Words near police state in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: police state (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-police state.wav.
Cite this entry: “police state.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/police_state. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.