gendarme
Americannoun
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a police officer in any of several European countries, especially a French police officer.
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a soldier, especially in France, serving in an army group acting as armed police with authority over civilians.
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(formerly) a cavalryman in charge of a French cavalry squad.
noun
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a member of the police force in France or in countries formerly influenced or controlled by France
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a slang word for a policeman
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a sharp pinnacle of rock on a mountain ridge, esp in the Alps
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gendarme
1540–50; < Middle French, earlier gens d'armes, alteration of gent d'armes people at arms
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:
Outside, TV crews stood at the ready and a comedian dressed as a gendarme sold “genuine fake Swiss passports.”
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2025
Mr Darmanin also said the officer had also "dirtied and spat on the uniform of the Republic and his 250,000 other police and gendarme colleagues".
From BBC ● Jan. 25, 2024
Spain expelled another deserter, Mohamed Abdellah, a dissident gendarme, to Algeria last August.
From Seattle Times ● May 27, 2022
Dinghies used by migrants to try to cross the channel are seen at the French gendarme brigade in Marquise, France, August 20, 2020.
From Reuters ● Jul. 23, 2021
On most nights, the people stayed at the site long after this gendarme had gone and told stories to one another beneath the big blank screen.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
Nearly 16,000 French police, gendarmes, troops, firefighters and border guards will be deployed, using boats, motorcycles and drones, alongside mounted police and dog-handling units, France's Haute-Savoie regional prefecture said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
"In 20 years, and despite the resolute efforts of our police officers, gendarmes, judges, teachers and elected officials, the antisemitic hydra has kept advancing," he said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
"Let's go in," said one of the gendarmes, pulling off his body armour, and taking out a small knife.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
We counted eighteen French gendarmes watching them from the shore, declining to intervene.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025
A week after we heard that he had been caught by the field gendarmes, those despicable military police.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
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.
