self-policing
Americanadjective
-
(of a group of people) independently monitoring the behavior of its own members and addressing any failure to abide by established rules or laws.
-
(of a system, program, etc.) having a built-in mechanism for detecting and stopping inadmissible actions.
noun
-
the act, on the part of a group of people, of independently monitoring the behavior of its own members and addressing any failure to abide by established rules or laws.
-
the function of a mechanism built into a system, program, etc., that detects and stops inadmissible actions.
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.
Politics is a messy business, and self-policing has both moral and practical limits, but the opposite is true.
But a system of self-policing has created a culture of under-reporting to law enforcement and a false sense of security for new festival goers.
From Salon
The self-policing of social media is real and often effective, but it is far too arbitrary to act as a substitute for media regulation and mob rule is not something we should embrace.
From Los Angeles Times
The suicide of a young man "cancelled" by his peers at university has prompted a coroner to write to the government warning about "self-policing" among some students.
From BBC
But our actual tech overlords have proven themselves incapable of self-policing for the greater good.
From Slate
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.