noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:P AH0 T R OW1 L M AE2 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty instead of detection or supervision.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
a policeman who patrols a given region
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: flatfoot
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lawman, law officer, peace officer
History
Etymology
From patrol + -man.
Across languages
Translations
8 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
уличен полицай
(uličen policaj)
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Dutch:
surveillant
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Finnish:
passipoliisi
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Italian:
pattugliatore
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Macedonian:
позо́рникар
(pozórnikar)
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Macedonian:
патро́лџија
(patróldžija)
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Russian:
патру́льный
(patrúlʹnyj)
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty
Spanish:
patrullero
— police officer, especially a junior officer assigned patrol duty