police
English dictionary entry
Meanings
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.
- A department of local (usually municipal) government responsible for general law enforcement.
- A branch of the Home Office responsible for general law enforcement within a specific territory.
- Any of the formally enacted law enforcement agencies at various levels of government.
- The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.
- People who try to enforce norms or standards as if granted authority similar to the police.
- Cleanup of a military facility, as a formal duty.
- Synonym of administration, the regulation of a community or society.
- Alternative form of policy.
- Alternative form of polity, civilization, a regulated community.
verb
- To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).
- To clean up an area.
- To enforce norms or standards upon.
Pronunciation
/pəˈliːs/
En-uk-police.ogg
LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-police.wav
/pəˈlis/
[pʰə̆ˈliˑs]
en-us-police.ogg
/ˈpɒl.ɪs/
/ˈpoʊ.liːs/
En-in-police_long_long.opus
En-in-police long short.opus
En-in-police short long.opus
Word forms
police
polices
policing
policed
Etymology
From Middle French police, from Latin polītīa (“state, government”), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía). Doublet of policy, polis (“police”), and polity.
Synonyms
police officer
5-O
Babylon
bacon
Big Blue Machine
Bill
boydem
constabulary
dibble
donut patrol
ducks and geese
ecilop
esclop
feds
filth
five-o
fuzz
garda
gardai
gendarmerie
heat
law
maaveh
monarch
Old Bill
piglice
plod
po-po
police
police department
police force
police service
polis
thin blue line
any plural synonym of police officer
administration
Related words
Derived words
antipolice
armed police
call the police
chief of police
community police officer
cyberpolice
depolice
fanpol
fashion police
field police
fire police
FTP
fuck the police
fun police
grammar police
haram police
identity police
I'll call the police
Interpol
judicial police
language police
military police
morality police
moral police
mounted police
nonpolice
overpolice
parapolice
pawlice
piglice
polac
policeable
police action
police ambulance
police and thief
police barrier
police beat
police blotter
policeboat
police box
police boy
police brutality
police burgh
police captain
police car
police chief
police clearance certificate
police commissioner
police constable
police court
police department
police detective
police dog
policedom
police escort
police force
policeism
police jury
policeless
police lieutenant
Translations
Abkhaz: аполициа
Abkhaz: амилициа
Afrikaans: polisie
Albanian: policia
Albanian: polici
Amharic: ፖሊስ
Arabic: شُرْطَة
Arabic: بُولِيس
Arabic: بوليس
Arabic: شرطة
Arabic: شُرْطة
Chadian Arabic: بوليس
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܫܘܼܪܛܵܐ
Armenian: ոստիկանություն
Aromanian: pulitsii
Aromanian: pulitsie
Aromanian: astinumii
Aromanian: astinumie
Aromanian: pulitsia
Aromanian: astinumia
Assamese: পুলিচ
Assamese: আৰক্ষী
Assamese: নিৰাপত্তাৰক্ষী
Azerbaijani: polis
Azerbaijani: zabitiyyə
Basque: polizia
Belarusian: палі́цыя
Belarusian: мілі́цыя
Bengali: পুলিশ
Bengali: আরক্ষী
Bengali: নিরাপত্তারক্ষী
Breton: polis
Bulgarian: поли́ция
Burmese: ရဲ
Burmese: ပုလိပ်
Carpathian Rusyn: полі́ція
Catalan: policia
Central Bikol: pulis
Chechen: милцо
Chinese Cantonese: 警察
Chinese: җинца
Chinese: яйи
Chinese: милис
Chinese: 警察
Eastern Min Chinese: 警察
Hakka Chinese: 警察
Jin Chinese: 警察
Chinese Mandarin: 警察
Chinese Mandarin: 警方
Chinese Mandarin: 公安
Wu Chinese: 警察
Cornish: kreslu
Crimean Tatar: polis
Czech: policie
Danish: politi
Central Dusun: pulis
Dutch: politie
Esperanto: polico
Estonian: politsei
Ewe: kpovitɔ
Faroese: løgregla
Finnish: poliisi
French: police
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.