police state
noun
: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures
Examples of police state in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Civil liberties activists fear that the Games will transform their city into something resembling a police state.
—
Keir Simmons, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024
So reads a title card at the beginning of Costa-Gavras’ Z, set in an unnamed Mediterranean country that could stand in for any number of police states torn between Russian and American influence at the height of the Cold War.
—Julian Sancton, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2024
What is often missing in basic American history courses is the social and political nature of the antebellum South, that being an oligarchy and police state.
—Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 4 Jan. 2024
Today, few defend the GDR’s use of torture, incarceration, and constant surveillance to keep a Stalinist police state in power or its decision in 1961 to maintain its viability by walling in its own citizens.
—Katja Hoyer, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
The inexorable march toward a police state, expedited by income and wealth inequality, has begun in America as well as elsewhere.
—Andy J. Semotiuk, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
Three people were killed and two more injured in three wrecks on Arkansas roads late last week, preliminary reports from local police state.
—Grant Lancaster, arkansasonline.com, 17 Jan. 2024
But that achievement, critics say, has come at an incalculable price: mass arrests that swept up thousands of innocent people, the erosion of civil liberties and the country’s descent into an increasingly autocratic police state.
—Natalie Kitroeff Daniele Volpe, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2023
That state now places its trust in the force of arms, and so must resort to the vocabulary of a police state, as in South Africa or Algeria.
—Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
Keir Simmons, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024
So reads a title card at the beginning of Costa-Gavras’ Z, set in an unnamed Mediterranean country that could stand in for any number of police states torn between Russian and American influence at the height of the Cold War.
—Julian Sancton, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Feb. 2024
What is often missing in basic American history courses is the social and political nature of the antebellum South, that being an oligarchy and police state.
—Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 4 Jan. 2024
Today, few defend the GDR’s use of torture, incarceration, and constant surveillance to keep a Stalinist police state in power or its decision in 1961 to maintain its viability by walling in its own citizens.
—Katja Hoyer, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
The inexorable march toward a police state, expedited by income and wealth inequality, has begun in America as well as elsewhere.
—Andy J. Semotiuk, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
Three people were killed and two more injured in three wrecks on Arkansas roads late last week, preliminary reports from local police state.
—Grant Lancaster, arkansasonline.com, 17 Jan. 2024
But that achievement, critics say, has come at an incalculable price: mass arrests that swept up thousands of innocent people, the erosion of civil liberties and the country’s descent into an increasingly autocratic police state.
—Natalie Kitroeff Daniele Volpe, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2023
That state now places its trust in the force of arms, and so must resort to the vocabulary of a police state, as in South Africa or Algeria.
—Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'police state.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1851, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near police state
Cite this Entry
“Police state.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/police%20state. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
police state
noun
: a state in which the activities of the people are under the power of the government often acting through a secret police force
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