secret police

American

noun

a police force that functions as the enforcement arm of a government's political policies and whose activities, which often include surveillance, intimidation, and physical violence as a means of suppressing dissent, are usually concealed from the public.

secret police British

noun

a police force that operates relatively secretly to check subversion or political dissent

"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 secret police

First recorded in 1920–25

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:

secret police

Hungary is scheduled to release communist-era secret police files Wednesday, identifying tens of thousands of former informants in a long-delayed reckoning with the central European country's repressive past.

From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026

The regime relied on strict media censorship and the Stasi, a large and feared secret police force to keep citizens in line.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026

But with an estimated 2,000 members from all branches of the armed forces as well as the national guard, the national police and the secret police, it’s as big as a brigade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 17, 2026

Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, refuted descriptions of ICE as a secret police force.

From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025

However you sneaked out of that theater and spied and made me a liar to the secret police.

From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023