police state
noun
: a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web In power since 2010, Orban has come to dominate and reshape Hungary’s political system not through a Soviet-style police state but rather through constitutional changes and the weakening of civil society. 
David Weigel And Isaac Arnsdorf, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Aug. 2022 The Reformation was just behind them; the civil war was coming; Elizabeth, the virgin queen, may have been semi-celestial, but her subjects lived in a police state. James Parker, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2022 In power since 2010, Orban has come to dominate and reshape Hungary’s political system not through a Soviet-style police state but rather through constitutional changes and the weakening of civil society. David Weigel And Isaac Arnsdorf, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Aug. 2022 In power since 2010, Orban has come to dominate and reshape Hungary’s political system not through a Soviet-style police state but rather through constitutional changes and the weakening of civil society. Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2022 Not Ebrahim Raisi, a disciple of Mr. Khamenei, who rose through the republic’s police state because of his zeal and ruthlessness. Reuel Marc Gerecht And Ray Takeyh, WSJ, 26 July 2022 What happens if corrupt politicians and powerful judges permanently change America into a banana republic or a police state? San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2022 Moscow has many vulnerabilities, but an inability to balance the books does not seem to be one of them — upsides of being a vicious police state and all that . . . Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 27 Feb. 2022 Exhibiting all the storytelling skills that made her earlier books so readable and popular, Pulley also offers a piercing study of how a police state deforms individual psychologies, personal relationships and professional ethics. Wendy Smith, Washington Post, 24 July 2022 See More
David Weigel And Isaac Arnsdorf, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Aug. 2022 The Reformation was just behind them; the civil war was coming; Elizabeth, the virgin queen, may have been semi-celestial, but her subjects lived in a police state. James Parker, The Atlantic, 16 Aug. 2022 In power since 2010, Orban has come to dominate and reshape Hungary’s political system not through a Soviet-style police state but rather through constitutional changes and the weakening of civil society. David Weigel And Isaac Arnsdorf, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Aug. 2022 In power since 2010, Orban has come to dominate and reshape Hungary’s political system not through a Soviet-style police state but rather through constitutional changes and the weakening of civil society. Isaac Arnsdorf, Washington Post, 4 Aug. 2022 Not Ebrahim Raisi, a disciple of Mr. Khamenei, who rose through the republic’s police state because of his zeal and ruthlessness. Reuel Marc Gerecht And Ray Takeyh, WSJ, 26 July 2022 What happens if corrupt politicians and powerful judges permanently change America into a banana republic or a police state? San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2022 Moscow has many vulnerabilities, but an inability to balance the books does not seem to be one of them — upsides of being a vicious police state and all that . . . Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 27 Feb. 2022 Exhibiting all the storytelling skills that made her earlier books so readable and popular, Pulley also offers a piercing study of how a police state deforms individual psychologies, personal relationships and professional ethics. Wendy Smith, Washington Post, 24 July 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1851, in the meaning defined above