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Synonyms

patrol car

American  

noun

  1. squad car.

patrol car British  

noun

  1. a police car with a radio telephone used for patrolling streets and motorways See also panda car

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of patrol car

First recorded in 1930–35

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.

Former presidential candidate Enrique Marquez, one of the first to be released, was driven home in a patrol car.

From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026

Higgs’s dashcam showed a few drops of rain hitting the windshield of his patrol car about an hour after police arrived.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025

After several failed attempts to deflate it, the officers finally managed to squash it into the back of a patrol car.

From Salon • Oct. 12, 2025

A reporter at the scene observed a teenager getting into a police patrol car.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

Sheriff Charles had a word with my father before he got in the patrol car.

From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia

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.