sheriff
Americannoun
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sheriffs
plural
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the law-enforcement officer of a county or other civil subdivision of a state.
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(formerly) an important civil officer in an English shire.
noun
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(in the US) the chief law-enforcement officer in a county: popularly elected, except in Rhode Island
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(in England and Wales) the chief executive officer of the Crown in a county, having chiefly ceremonial duties
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(in Scotland) a judge in any of the sheriff courts
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(in Australia) an administrative officer of the Supreme Court, who enforces judgments and the execution of writs, empanels juries, etc
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(in New Zealand) an officer of the High Court
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of sheriff
before 1050; Middle English sher ( r ) ef, Old English scīrgerēfa. See shire, reeve 1
Explanation
A sheriff is the top-ranking officer in a county police force. Unlike police in a city or town, the sheriff is an elected official. In most states, the sheriff serves a four-year term, and she oversees a department of police officers. A sheriff's job varies from state to state, but it generally includes enforcing the law, making arrests within the county, traffic control, prisoner transportation, and crime investigation. The Old English root word is scirgerefa, "representative of royal authority in a shire." Sheriff has been used in the United States since the 1600's.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He also asked the sheriff to impose non-harassment orders, banning Gallacher from having any contact with his victims.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Later, in 2017 and 2018, he served as sheriff of Macon County in central Illinois, a post that came after serving as an auxiliary deputy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
In September last year, the Daily Mail reported that sheriff officers had served legal papers at the Trump Turnberry resort.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this year gave a nod to the incoming Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh as the “new sheriff in town,” but the public praise belies an underlying tension between the pair.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
He was named a reserve deputy sheriff in Fairfax, a position that he would continue to hold.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
I’m sure that will be very popular with other sheriffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Five West Texas sheriffs likewise wrote to federal officials saying advanced surveillance technology would be better suited to stopping undocumented migration in the rugged terrain.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Security at Mar-a-Lago is extremely tight, with an outer cordon of local Palm Beach sheriffs and an inner one maintained by the Secret Service.
From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026
Charles said the issue is with county jails—which vary in their practices and are typically managed by local sheriffs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
But the next thing we knew, the two sheriffs deputies who had stood quietly at the side of the room all morning were putting handcuffs on my two friends!
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
