Policing

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The act of maintaining public order and ensuring laws are followed through organized enforcement
2. The process of controlling behavior in a community by enforcing rules and preventing crime
3. Activities by authorities to keep peace and ensure compliance with legal standards

Etymology: Policing is simply the act of carrying on the work of "police," so its real story lies in the noun. That word travels a long road from the Greek city-state. In ancient Greece, "politeia" meant the government or constitution of a city, and the root "polis" meant the city itself. Latin borrowed it as "politia," meaning state or government, and French later shaped it into "police," which still meant the management of a state rather than a force of officers. The sense narrowed on the way into English. Early English uses of "police" referred to public order and civil administration, and the idea of a uniformed body enforcing the law came later. The word thus began as a description of how a whole community was governed and gradually came to name the people who kept it in order.

Synonyms: law enforcement, regulation, surveillance, monitoring, control

Antonyms: neglect, disregard, abandonment, laisser-faire, freedom