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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
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
Kara-Murza, who had been poisoned in 2015 and 2017, presumably by Vladimir Putin’s secret police, was serving the second year of a twenty-five-year sentence for his public opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2024
Both at home and abroad, China relies much more heavily than the United States does on its law enforcement, paramilitary, and secret police agencies to carry out security policy.
—Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Foreign Affairs, 15 Mar. 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 25 Dec. 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
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about secret police
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