| a nation in which the police, esp. a secret police, summarily suppresses any social, economic, or political act that conflicts with governmental policy. |
| police state n. A state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the people, especially by means of a secret police force. |
A nation whose rulers maintain order and obedience by the threat of police or military force; one with a brutal, arbitrary government.