Meaning & use
narc
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Meanings
nouncountableAmerican
An officer who works to catch people who sell or use illegal drugs.
Grammar: Often used for undercover officers: he turned out to be a narc.
Patterns
- a narc in something
Everyone at the party thought the new guy was a narc.
The film follows a young narc who goes undercover in a gang.
Dealers on the corner could spot a narc from a block away.
nouncountabledisapproving
A person who tells on others to those in authority, even over small rule-breaking.
Grammar: Used as an insult for informers: don't be such a narc.
Patterns
- act like a narc
She was called a narc after she reported the group's prank.
Nobody wanted to sit next to the class narc.
Don't be a narc, it was only a harmless joke.
verbintransitiveinformal
To inform on someone to the authorities.
Grammar: Often followed by on: narc on a friend.
Patterns
- narc on someone
He narced on his neighbors to the landlord.
Who narced on us to the teacher?
Word forms
| plural | narcs |
|---|---|
| third person singular | narcs |
| past tense | narced |
| past participle | narced |
| -ing form | narcing |
Common combinations
- undercover narc
- The undercover narc posed as a buyer for months.
- narc on someone
- He would never narc on his own brother.
- a narc squad
- A narc squad raided the warehouse at dawn.
- call someone a narc
- They called her a narc for telling the principal.
Synonyms and how they differ
- snitch
- Snitch is broader and mainly means an informer on any wrongdoing, while narc often implies drug enforcement.
- informant
- Informant is neutral and formal, used for someone who gives information to police, while narc is slangy and often insulting.
- rat
- Rat is blunter and more insulting, stressing disloyalty to friends.
- tattletale
- Tattletale is child language for someone who tells on others over small things, with less criminal weight than narc.
Word family
- narcotic noun
- a drug that dulls the senses, the source of the shortened word
- narcotics noun
- illegal drugs or the police unit that deals with them
- narcotics officer noun
- a police officer who investigates drug crime
Commonly confused: narc or nark?
narc vs nark
Nark is the British spelling and word for a police informer; narc is the American form, more often tied to drug enforcement.
Practice
If a friend says, Don't be a narc, what does she want you to do?
Choose one answer.
A narc tells on others, so being told not to be one means not reporting people. The other options have no link to the meaning of the word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “narc”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.