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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
Former President Donald Trump at a Republican retreat compared President Joe Biden’s administration to the Nazi secret police, according to multiple outlets that obtained audio recordings of his comments.
—George Fabe Russell, USA TODAY, 5 May 2024
In the archive, Dr. Almada and a judge, José Agustín Fernández, found a critical historical record: an invitation to the head of the Paraguayan secret police for the meeting that launched Operation Condor in Santiago, Chile, in November 1975.
—Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2024
The sense of continuity with their Soviet predecessors has even taken visible form in Russia: in September, Sergei Naryshkin, Russia’s head of foreign intelligence, inaugurated a new statue to the founder of the Soviet secret police in the courtyard of the SVR’s Moscow headquarters.
—Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 27 Dec. 2023
The group – which was supported in part by East Germany’s Stasi secret police force – wreaked havoc throughout the 1970s and 1980s with deadly bombings, kidnappings and shootings.
—Sophie Tanno, CNN, 17 Mar. 2024
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the coup, the Comisión Provincial por la Memoria—an organization that investigates and memorializes human rights violations in Argentina—combed secret police files for information about the refugees saved by the Argentine embassy in Chile after the coup.
—Krista Stevens, Longreads, 8 Mar. 2024
Former inmates and lawyers who visited Lefortovo describe it as a Soviet time capsule, with shabby floors, thick oil paint on the walls, portraits of Felix Dzerzhinsky, who created the Soviet secret police apparatus, and the smell of dust and old papers.
—Júlia Ledur, Washington Post, 1 June 2023
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
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
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 21 May. 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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