constabulary

English

Etymology

From mediaeval Latin conestabularia, a noun use of the feminine version of conestabularius, from Latin constabulus, from comes stabuli, literally ‘master of the stables’.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈstæbjʊləɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

constabulary (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to constables.
2. Characteristic of police; police-like, rather than military.

   Constabulary missions are different from fighting wars.

Synonyms

• constabular

Noun

constabulary (countable and uncountable, plural constabularies)

1. A police force.
2. The police in a particular district or area.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:

     […] the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

Usage notes

Constabulary is a collective noun and usually has no plural. Only when describing groups of constabularies is it used in the plural. For example, the constabularies of England and Wales form part of the constabulary of the United Kingdom.

Translations

police force

Bulgarian: полиция f (policija) Czech: policejní sbor m Dutch: politiemacht (nl) f French: gendarmerie (fr) Greek: χωροφυλακή (el) (chorofylakí) Latin: vigilia f Russian: полицейские силы pl (policejskije sily) Spanish: policía (es), fuerza pública f