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 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 The only thing that really unites them all is courage: a belief that restrictions on movement, government censorship and secret police surveillance were no match for artistic freedom. Jason Farago, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024 Citizens were spied on by its infamous secret police—the Stasi—at the same time that East Germany achieved unparalleled gender equality in the workplace. Samuel Clowes Huneke, The New Republic, 22 Sep. 2023 After all, the guobao, or Chinese secret police, had shadowed him for the better part of a decade. Han Zhang, New York Times, 3 Aug. 2023

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.

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 18 Mar. 2024.

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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