Dictionary

police state en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Likely a calque of German Polizeistaat adopted following the Carlsbad Decrees of 1819 and the ensuing Demagogenverfolgungen, culminating in the crackdown of liberal and anarchical movements popular in the 1840s during the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Equivalent to police + state.

Meanings

1. (derogatory, usually) A political entity, usually a state, whose government exercises strict and repressive control of its people.
   • A gun up in our faces and they never gave a reason / The writing's on the wall, the politics are fake / Its clear to me we're livin' in a police state […] The prisons are for profit, its society's mistake / How macabre, we been living in a police state 2015, “Police State”, in Police State, performed by Tropidelic:
   • You didn't know there is […] an active campaign, propaganda and otherwise, […] against all kinds of security procedures on the ground that they are all police state methods and all interfere with individual rights? 1964 September 16, J. G. Sourwine, “Hearings Before the Subcommittee to Investigatee the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate Eighty-Ninth Congress First Session”, in hearing (US Senate), volume 10, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, page 674:
   • [Mo:] But out there in the real world they're bombing abortion clinics... holding Nazi and KKK rallies... trying to quarantine people who might have AIDS. They're making secret weapons deals to illegally fund so-called "freedom fighters" and calling it "the Lord's work"!! We're living in a Protestant police state […] 1987, Alison Bechdel, “High Anxiety”, in Dykes to Watch Out For:

Forms

Relateds

totalitarianism · secret police

Translations (52)

ka პოლიციური სახელმწიფო (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · hy ոստիկանապետություն (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · fr État policier (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · lmo stat de polizia (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · hu rendőrállam (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ja 警察国家 (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · eu polizia estatu (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · sl policȋjska držȃva (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · de Polizeistaat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · pt estado policial (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ar دَوْلَة بُولِيسِيَّة (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ko 경찰 국가 (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · is lögregluríki (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · vi nhà nước cảnh sát (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · sh полицијска држава (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · cs policejní stát (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · fi poliisivaltio (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · mk полициска држава (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · uk поліце́йська держа́ва (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · sk policajný štát (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ca estat policia (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · es estado policial (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ast estáu policial (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ms negara polis (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · sv polisstat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · gl estado policial (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ru полице́йское госуда́рство (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · lt policinė valstybė (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · af polisiestaat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · da politistat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · nl politiestaat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · id negara polisi (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · hy ոստիկանական պետություն (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · eo polica ŝtato (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · sh policijska država (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · tr polis devleti (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · no politistat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · el αστυνομικό κράτος (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · cmn 警察國家 /警察国家 (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · et politseiriik (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · lv policijas valsts (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · el αστυνομοκρατία (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · bg полице́йска държа́ва (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · be паліцэ́йская дзяржа́ва (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · nn politistat (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ro stat polițienesc (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · uk поліці́йна держа́ва (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · ar دَوْلَة شُرْطِيَّة (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · hi पुलिस राज्य (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · pl państwo policyjne (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · it stato di polizia (political entity whose government controls people by using police) · tl estadong pulis (political entity whose government controls people by using police)

wikipedia: Carlsbad Decrees · wikipedia: German revolutions of 1848–1849 · wikipedia: de:Demagogenverfolgung