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
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In 2011, in the southern city of Daraa, a group of teen-age boys were caught painting anti-government graffiti on a wall, and, rather than simply reprimand them, secret police tortured them to death. Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025 Jamie Coughlin Silverman, Gabriel Silverman Thirty years after the Cold War ends, a former political prisoner of the East German secret police searches for the truth after learning his brother spied on him for the regime, and discovers the lasting effects of living in a surveillance state. Matt Grobar, Deadline, 22 Jan. 2025 John Bolton, who served as national security adviser in Trump's first term and was Patel's boss, compared the nomination to Joseph Stalin's secret police chief. Robert Legare, CBS News, 11 Dec. 2024 The regime had multiple branches of secret police, collectively called the Mukhabarat, which helped underpin its one-party, one-family, one-man rule. Rania Abouzeid, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for secret police 

Word History

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of secret police was in 1823

Dictionary Entries Near secret police

Cite this Entry

“Secret police.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secret%20police. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

secret police

noun
: a police organization operating mostly in secrecy and especially for the political purposes of its government and often using methods of terrorists

More from Merriam-Webster on secret police

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