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.
He thought police would acknowledge there had been "lapses in their normal procedures" by assessing the death as non-suspicious - but understood why it could have happened.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
She didn’t report it because she didn’t know the man and thought police would refuse to investigate.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 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
Janz, who also lives in the Skyline Towers, was surprised by the incident, but he thought police had it under control.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 23, 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.
