🇵🇹Portuguese Source WordCode: PT

Estado policial

Pronunciation / Transliteration: isˈtadu poliˈzjɐl

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Police state/pəˈliːs steɪt/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #14500 frequency
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🇵🇹 Example Sentence in Portuguese:

"Um estado policial utiliza a força para manter o controle."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A political system characterized by repressive control of the population, often enforced by the police.

    "In a police-state, citizens may face surveillance and restrictions on their freedoms."
  2. 2

    A government that maintains strict control over its citizens, often using intimidation and coercion.

    "The regime was criticized for turning the country into a police-state, where dissent was not tolerated."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

The term combines 'police', derived from the Ancient Greek politeia (citizenship, government) via French and Latin, and 'state', from Latin status (condition, standing). Emerging in the 20th century, the phrase originally described totalitarian regimes characterized by strict governmental control over the political, economic, and social life of the populace, heavily enforced by an oppressive police force.

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