Definitions for police
pəˈlis; ˈpoʊ lis; ˈdi trɔɪt; ˈsi mɛnt; ˈsi gɑr; ˈgɪt ɑr; ˈɪn ʃʊər əns; ˈʌm brɛl ə; ˈaɪ diəpo·lice

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. police, police force, constabulary, lawverb

   the force of policemen and officers

   "the law came looking for him"

2. patrol, policeverb

   maintain the security of by carrying out a patrol

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. policenoun

   Policy.

2. policenoun

   Communal living; civilization.

3. policenoun

   The regulation of a given community or society; administration, law and order etc.

4. policenoun

   A civil force granted the legal authority to enforce the law and maintain public order.

5. policenoun

   A police officer.

6. policeverb

   To enforce the law and keep order among (a group).

   Extra security was hired to police the crowd at the big game.

7. policeverb

   To patrol an area.

8. Etymology: From police, from politia, from πολιτεία.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. POLICEnoun

   The regulation and government of a city or country, so far as regards the inhabitants.

   Etymology: French.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Policenoun

   a judicial and executive system, for the government of a city, town, or district, for the preservation of rights, order, cleanliness, health, etc., and for the enforcement of the laws and prevention of crime; the administration of the laws and regulations of a city, incorporated town, or borough

2. Policenoun

   that which concerns the order of the community; the internal regulation of a state

3. Policenoun

   the organized body of civil officers in a city, town, or district, whose particular duties are the preservation of good order, the prevention and detection of crime, and the enforcement of the laws

4. Policenoun

   military police, the body of soldiers detailed to preserve civil order and attend to sanitary arrangements in a camp or garrison

5. Policenoun

   the cleaning of a camp or garrison, or the state / a camp as to cleanliness

6. Policeverb

   to keep in order by police

7. Policeverb

   to make clean; as, to police a camp

8. Etymology: [F., fr. L. politia the condition of a state, government, administration, Gr. , fr. to be a citizen, to govern or administer a state, fr. citizen, fr. city; akin to Skr. pur, puri. Cf. Policy polity, Polity.]

Freebase(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Police

   The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. Their powers include the legitimized use of force. The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from military or other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Law enforcement, however, constitutes only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Some parts of the world may suffer from police corruption. Alternative names for police force include constabulary, gendarmerie, police department, police service, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, troopers, sheriffs, constables, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Police of the Soviet-era Eastern Europe were called the militsiya. The Irish police are called the Garda Síochána; a police officer is called a garda. And although the word "police" comes from Greek, the Greek police is Αστυνομία.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Police

   pō-lēs′, n. the system of regulations of a city, town, or district for the preservation of order and enforcement of law: the internal government of a state: (short for Police′-force) the civil officers employed to preserve order, &c.—v.t. to guard or maintain order in: to put in order.—n.pl. Police′-commiss′ioners, a body of men appointed to regulate the appointments and duties of the police.—ns. Police′-inspect′or, a superior officer of police who has charge of a department, next in rank to a superintendent; Police′-mag′istrate, one who presides in a police court; Police′man, a member of a police-force; Police′-off′ice, -stā′tion, the headquarters of the police of a district, used also as a temporary place of confinement; Police′-off′icer, -con′stable, a policeman; Police′-rate, a tax levied for the support of the police.—Police court, a court for trying small offences brought before it by the police. [Fr.,—L. politia—Gr. politeia, the condition of a state—politēs, a citizen—polis, a city.]

The Roycroft Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. police

   Similia similibus.

U.S. National Library of Medicine(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Police

   Agents of the law charged with the responsibility of maintaining law and order among the citizenry.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. police

   The cleaning of a camp or garrison; the state of a camp in regard to cleanliness.

Etymology and Origins(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Police

   The appropriate designation of civil guardians of the peace, from the Greek polis, city.

Matched Categories

1. • Guard

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'police' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #304

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'police' in Written Corpus Frequency: #483

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'police' in Nouns Frequency: #95

How to pronounce police?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say police in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of police in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of police in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of police in a Sentence

1. Michael Thomas:

   As the guy and police were going back and forth, the man acted like he was going to run back inside his house, and then ran around the cars by the cop car, and the cops started pursuing closer to him.

2. Rod Wheeler:

   Cydney Ireland said. The sprawling, 58,000-student main campus in downtown Columbus is one of the nation's largest. Fox News contributor Rod Wheeler, a former Washington DC homicide detective and an Ohio State University alum, said the school's police department is highly trained. People don’t need to panic.

3. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton:

   You'd have to almost go back to the late 60s to early 70s to see a time when there was so much anti-police sentiment in the country, these are strange times.

4. Alvin Bragg:

   In addition to being the first Black district attorney, I think I'll probably be the first district attorney who's had police point a gun at him. I think I'll be the first district attorney who's had a homicide victim on his doorstop. I think I'll be the first district attorney in Manhattan whose had a semi-automatic weapon pointed at him. I think I'll be the first district attorney in Manhattan whose had a loved one reenter from incarceration and stay with him, and I'm going to govern from that perspective.

5. Pete Eliadis:

   There's no political will to prosecute the people in this climate. Why should a police officer waste time getting into an altercation when the person is not going to jail because it's overcrowded and a prosecutor is not going to prosecute that case because it's not high on the priority list ? the takeaway is we need the political will, more prosecution and backing of law enforcement.

Popularity rank by frequency of use