thought police
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of thought police
C20: from the Thought Police described by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
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.
"I always thought police officers were there to uphold the law and be compassionate, but that wasn't the case for me," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024
There’s already a strong sense among conspiracy theorists that there’s a well-organized thought police, so organized efforts to fight these ideas have little chance to succeed.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2023
As an adolescent in the 1930s, Chiyoko fell in love with a wounded artist who was fleeing the dreaded thought police.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2022
They thought police were letting them enter the building.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 3, 2022
Odd—when Pax had ruled, there were thought police and the cardinal sin was to be a liberal, to experiment, to seek knowledge.
From Star Born by Norton, Andre
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.
