Meaning & use
gendarme
Last updated
UK/ˈʒɒndɑːm/
US/ˈʒɑːndɑːrm/
Meaning
nouncountable
A member of an armed police force with military status, especially in France or in countries influenced by French systems.
Grammar: Countable; the force as a whole is the gendarmerie, while one officer is a gendarme.
Patterns
- a French gendarme
- gendarmes patrol somewhere
- a gendarme in uniform
A gendarme directed traffic around the market square.
Gendarmes patrol rural areas as well as towns.
Word forms
| plural | gendarmes |
|---|
Common combinations
- French gendarme
- The French gendarme asked to see our identification.
- gendarme patrol
- A gendarme patrol passes the village twice a day.
- uniformed gendarme
- A uniformed gendarme stood outside the town hall.
Synonyms and how they differ
- military police officer
- Broader; it describes a soldier-police role but is not specifically French.
- police officer
- Used for civilian police; gendarmes have military status in the French system.
- constable
- A British civilian police rank; it does not imply the same military organization.
Word family
- gendarmerie noun
- The organized gendarme force of a country, especially France.
Commonly confused: gendarme or gendarmerie?
gendarme vs gendarmerie
A gendarme is one officer; the gendarmerie is the institution or force.
Practice
Fill the blank: One officer is a ____; the national force is the ____.
Choose one answer.
Use gendarme for a person and gendarmerie for the organization; swapping them mixes the officer with the force.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gendarme”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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