morality police

noun

A police force tasked with enforcing a specific moral code, especially a religious one.

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Meanings

nounmorality police (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA police force tasked with enforcing a specific moral code, especially a religious one.

    Ms. Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman known as Jina in Kurdish, was stopped on Sept. 13 by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s morality police as she came out of Tehran’s Haghani metro station.

    2022 September 30, Mahsa Alimardani, Kendra Albert, Afsaneh Rigot, “Big Tech Should Support the Iranian People, Not the Regime”, in The New York Times
    1 more example

    The morality police—known as the Gasht-e Ershad or "Guidance Patrol"—were established under president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to "spread the culture of modesty and hijab". The units began patrols in 2006.

    2022 December 4, Mallika Soni, “Iran abolishes controversial morality police amid huge anti-hijab unrest: Report”, in Hindustan Times

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
religious police

Translations

Danish moralpoliti, sædelighedspoliti
  • moralpolitipolice enforcing moral code
  • sædelighedspolitipolice enforcing moral code
Dutch zedenpolitie
  • zedenpolitiepolice enforcing moral code
Finnish moraalipoliisi
  • moraalipoliisipolice enforcing moral code
French police des mœurs
  • police des mœurspolice enforcing moral code
German Sittenpolizei
  • Sittenpolizeipolice enforcing moral code
Hungarian erkölcsrendőrség
  • erkölcsrendőrségpolice enforcing moral code
Norwegian Bokmål moralpoliti
  • moralpolitipolice enforcing moral code
Polish policja moralności, policja obyczajowa
  • policja moralnościpolice enforcing moral code
  • policja obyczajowapolice enforcing moral code
Russian поли́ция нра́вов
  • поли́ция нра́вов (polícija nrávov)police enforcing moral code
Swedish moralpolis, sedlighetspolis
  • moralpolispolice enforcing moral code
  • sedlighetspolispolice enforcing moral code
Cite this entry
APA

morality police. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morality%20police

MLA

“morality police.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morality%20police. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morality police,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morality%20police.

Source: morality police on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.