police
/pəˈliːs/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.33 in modern English
Meaning
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.
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.
Canadian usage; American usage
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.
British usage
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.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage
noun
The staff of such a department or agency, particularly its officers; (regional, chiefly US, Caribbean, Jamaica, Scotland, countable) an individual police officer.
Example Sentences
- "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 duties which are incumbent on every citizen, in the interests of community welfare and existence."
- "‘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?"
- "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."
- "Citadel Security is a volunteer police service answering to the Citadel Council. The 200,000 constables of C-Sec are responsible for maintaining public order in the densely populated Citadel."
- "The rally on Sunday in Victoria Park, in the Causeway Bay district, was authorized in advance by the police. But protesters were also expected to begin marching later in the day from Sham Shui Po, a working-class neighborhood on the Kowloon peninsula, across the harbor from North Point. The police rejected their application for a permit."
- "Call the police!"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: police, polītīa, πολιτεία
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- British usage
- Australian usage
- New Zealand usage
- Derogatory
- Slang
- Archaic