self-police

verb

To police and monitor amongst themselves without resorting to an external organisation.

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Meanings

verbself-police (third-person singular simple present self-polices, present participle self-policing, simple past and past participle self-policed)

present singular third person self-polices · participle present self-policing · participle past self-policed · past self-policed

  1. To police and monitor amongst themselves without resorting to an external organisation.

    Because they will largely have to self-police this - train operators and the British Transport Police will not be able to enforce the use of face coverings, for example.

    2020 May 20, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: Safety first: now more than ever”, in Rail, page 3

Origin

From self- + police.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

“self-police.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-police. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

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

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