secret police
noun
: a police organization operating for the most part in secrecy and especially for the political purposes of its government often with terroristic methods
Examples of secret police in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The group – which was supported in part by East Germany’s Stasi secret police force – wreaked havoc throughout the 1970s and 1980s with deadly bombings, kidnappings and shootings.
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Sophie Tanno, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the coup, the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria—an organization that investigates and memorializes human rights violations in Argentina—combed secret police files for information about the refugees saved by the Argentine embassy in Chile after the coup.
—Krista Stevens, Longreads, 8 Mar. 2024
Former inmates and lawyers who visited Lefortovo describe it as a Soviet time capsule, with shabby floors, thick oil paint on the walls, portraits of Felix Dzerzhinsky, who created the Soviet secret police apparatus, and the smell of dust and old papers.
—Júlia Ledur, Washington Post, 1 June 2023
Dems appeared with a diplomat linked to China’s secret police station in Manhattan.
—Jimmy Quinn, National Review, 26 Feb. 2024
In 2020, Vladimir Putin set out to crush popular dissent in Russia once and for all, ordering his secret police to hunt down his nemesis Alexei Navalny, the eventual winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 25 Feb. 2024
Litvinenko had worked for the FSB, Russia’s successor agency to the KGB, the former Soviet secret police and intelligence agency.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024
Eilish Stack lives in a Dublin ruled by secret police, who sweep in one night and detain her union-official husband; her son joins the rebel forces.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
In the former Soviet Union and East Germany, no such limits existed; unsurprisingly, secret police chiefs in those regimes amassed enormous power.
—Minxin Pei, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2024
Sophie Tanno, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the coup, the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria—an organization that investigates and memorializes human rights violations in Argentina—combed secret police files for information about the refugees saved by the Argentine embassy in Chile after the coup.
—Krista Stevens, Longreads, 8 Mar. 2024
Former inmates and lawyers who visited Lefortovo describe it as a Soviet time capsule, with shabby floors, thick oil paint on the walls, portraits of Felix Dzerzhinsky, who created the Soviet secret police apparatus, and the smell of dust and old papers.
—Júlia Ledur, Washington Post, 1 June 2023
Dems appeared with a diplomat linked to China’s secret police station in Manhattan.
—Jimmy Quinn, National Review, 26 Feb. 2024
In 2020, Vladimir Putin set out to crush popular dissent in Russia once and for all, ordering his secret police to hunt down his nemesis Alexei Navalny, the eventual winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 25 Feb. 2024
Litvinenko had worked for the FSB, Russia’s successor agency to the KGB, the former Soviet secret police and intelligence agency.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024
Eilish Stack lives in a Dublin ruled by secret police, who sweep in one night and detain her union-official husband; her son joins the rebel forces.
—Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
In the former Soviet Union and East Germany, no such limits existed; unsurprisingly, secret police chiefs in those regimes amassed enormous power.
—Minxin Pei, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'secret police.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Secret police.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secret%20police. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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