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truant officer
noun
: a person employed by a public-school system to investigate the continued absences of pupils
called also attendance officer, truancy officer
Examples of truant officer in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Cities often employed truant officers, who roamed the streets searching for children to corral, and repeat offenders risked being brought to juvenile court.
—Alec MacGillis, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024
The law was enforced by agents of the school committee — truant officers — with fines of up to $5 per week.
—Alec MacGillis, ProPublica, 8 Jan. 2024
The law was enforced by agents of the school committee—truant officers—with fines of up to five dollars per week.
—Alec MacGillis, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024
There is fleet white, the easily repairable, appliancelike white of chicken inspectors and truant officers.
—Dan Neil, WSJ, 7 Feb. 2020
Bonnie’s father, Stan Colwell, had been a tough truant officer before being promoted to principal at a second-chance high school.
—Tribune News Service, oregonlive.com, 22 June 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'truant officer.' 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
1868, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near truant officer
Cite this Entry
“Truant officer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truant%20officer. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
truant officer
noun
: a school officer whose duty is to investigate the continued absences of students
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