police state
noun
: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures
Examples of police state in a Sentence
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Imagine living in a neighborhood that is a police state—constantly being harassed while walking to school, seeing houses raided, arrested just because, and maybe assaulted and beat—due to the war on drugs.
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Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2024
The police state does not want citizens who know their rights.
—Nisha Whitehead, Orange County Register, 22 May 2024
So, too, does the largely motley resistance to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime issue, in part, from structures, much older than the current police state, that never allowed the people a voice.
—Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2011
Although autocracies have long relied on various degrees of repression to support their objectives, the ease with which today’s authoritarian regimes can acquire this repressive capacity marks a significant departure from the police states of the past.
—Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2020
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Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2024
The police state does not want citizens who know their rights.
—Nisha Whitehead, Orange County Register, 22 May 2024
So, too, does the largely motley resistance to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime issue, in part, from structures, much older than the current police state, that never allowed the people a voice.
—Robert Zaretsky, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2011
Although autocracies have long relied on various degrees of repression to support their objectives, the ease with which today’s authoritarian regimes can acquire this repressive capacity marks a significant departure from the police states of the past.
—Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2020
See all Example Sentences for police state
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“Police state.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/police%20state. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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