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Synonyms

vice squad

American

[vahys skwod] / ˈvaɪs ˌskwɒd /

noun

a police squad charged with enforcing laws dealing with narcotic drugs, prostitution, pornography, gambling, and other forms of vice.

vice squad British

noun

a police division to which is assigned the enforcement of gaming and prostitution laws

"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 vice squad

First recorded in 1905–10

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.

In a 2019 mini-documentary, Cordova claimed that the 5 Star had been targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department’s vice squad for hosting punk rock bands and bringing in the accompanying crowd.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 4, 2025

He was met instead by police who arrested him and threw him into a cell belonging to the vice squad.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2023

According to Ms. Rowland, the theater manager was filling in at the box office that night and failed to recognize a pair of vice squad officers, refusing to let them in free.

From Washington Post • Jul. 1, 2022

After a couple of years, she was transferred again, to the vice squad.

From New York Times • Oct. 13, 2021

And I knew how to keep moving about so as not to attract the attention of any vice squad plainclothes- men or uniformed cops.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

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.