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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
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
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Word History
First Known Use
1823, in the meaning defined above
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
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about secret police
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