How to Use plainclothes in a Sentence

plainclothes

1 of 2 adjective
  • But her plainclothes look wasn’t enough to thwart one eagle-eyed fan from spotting her in the flesh.
    — Fox News, 30 Nov. 2019
  • Two plainclothes officers asked him to go with them to answer questions.
    — New York Times, 11 July 2019
  • The officers had worked in plainclothes police squads with Sgt.
    — Justin Fenton, baltimoresun.com, 8 June 2018
  • When relatives went to look for him at the food stall, they were told he'd been picked up by plainclothes officers.
    — Shashank Bengali, latimes.com, 27 May 2018
  • The referees blew the play dead and stood nearby, dawdling like a pair of plainclothes detectives at a crime scene.
    — Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019
  • Soon, the person said, about a dozen plainclothes investigators converged on the scene, and the two men were led away.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 13 Oct. 2019
  • In the video, Gayle is shown standing with his back against a wall as a plainclothes officer puts his hand on Gayle's chest.
    — Kristina Sgueglia, CNN, 7 Mar. 2020
  • Manning was fatally shot by a plainclothes officer during an armed-robbery sting that fell apart.
    — Emily Lane, NOLA.com, 19 June 2017
  • Plainclothes officers blended in with guests inside the hotel.
    — Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2017
  • The man and other plainclothes officers load him inside, rushing him to the hospital.
    — CBS News, 5 June 2017
  • Shops saw few customers as uniformed police and plainclothes security forces walked the streets of Tehran.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 19 Nov. 2019
  • Miller said plainclothes officers are working behind the scenes in areas where world leaders are meeting or staying.
    — Pamela Falk, CBS News, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Seals was on duty and in plainclothes Tuesday when he was shot by at least one of the suspects at Bayview Cemetery.
    — Anthony Zurita, USA TODAY, 11 Dec. 2019
  • Officers with long guns could be seen on the rooftops of buildings that lined the parade route, while plainclothes officers wandered among the crowds below.
    — James Steinbauer, chicagotribune.com, 25 June 2017
  • The buyer was a plainclothes police officer; the seller was promptly handcuffed.
    — Jeanna Smialek, Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2017
  • Guzman got out, ran toward an unmarked minivan with two plainclothes officers inside, and pointed a gun at one of them, police said.
    — Hannah Leone, Aurora Beacon-News, 26 May 2017
  • To play the part of a plainclothes police officer in a science fiction film set in the future (but filmed in the past) is to wear truly fantastic clothes.
    — Megan Gustashaw, GQ, 20 Oct. 2017
  • When his police powers were somehow reinstated in 2012, he was bumped up to the plainclothes gun unit.
    — David McFadden, The Seattle Times, 17 Feb. 2018
  • The man, who identified himself as Yang Chunlin, was bundled away by plainclothes police.
    — Eva Dou, WSJ, 26 Dec. 2018
  • The plainclothes officer then approached the SUV and that’s when the shooting occurred.
    — Joseph A. Gambardello, Philly.com, 26 Dec. 2017
  • The bag's owner reported the theft, and the plainclothes officers were sent to the site of the rendezvous to allegedly turn over the bag for ransom, the statement said.
    — Giada Zampano and Frances D'emilio, chicagotribune.com, 27 July 2019
  • Poole was the plainclothes detective who arrested Bates on Benjamin’s orders.
    — Mario Ariza, sun-sentinel.com, 11 Dec. 2019
  • Guttenberg was heard shouting from the speaker’s box, and he was quickly removed from the audience by a plainclothes police officer.
    — Tim Darnell, ajc, 5 Feb. 2020
  • This year, concrete blocks, surveillance cameras and plainclothes police officers also will be part of the scene, a year after a deadly attack here.
    — William Wilkes, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2017
  • Berger's story begins in 1941, when a plainclothes Ustase agent arrived at his workplace and asked for him by name.
    — Jonathan M. Pitts, baltimoresun.com, 16 June 2017
  • When Gayle asked a lone plainclothes officer why he was being stopped, the officer did not appear to answer before uniformed backup rushed in.
    — CBS News, 6 Mar. 2020
  • But the plainclothes anti-crime officers who answered a smartphone alert for someone waving a silver gun on Wednesday didn’t know him at all, the police said.
    — Benjamin Mueller, Jan Ransom and Luis FerrÉ-SadurnÍ, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Police have said a meeting was set up between the teens and two plainclothes Carabinieri paramilitary officers to recover the bag.
    — NBC News, 1 Aug. 2019
  • The Dubuque Police Department will resort to putting plainclothes officers in unmarked cars just to catch people in the act.
    — Aric Chokey, Sun-Sentinel.com, 10 Aug. 2017
  • Barber, who was 16 at the time, bought a shirt and was walking out with two other teens, one of whom had joined them at the store, when a large plainclothes security officer accosted them.
    — Ann Doss Helms, charlotteobserver, 7 June 2018

plain clothes

2 of 2 noun
  • There were about six, and three were in plain clothes, the caller said.
    — Julia Coin, Charlotte Observer, 3 Dec. 2025
  • In some cases, the men wore plain clothes and refused to identify themselves.
    — J. David McSwane, ProPublica, 18 Oct. 2025
  • Some officers will be very visible, while others will be in plain clothes.
    — Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 25 Nov. 2025
  • Students said a man in plain clothes appeared to charge into the crowd and began throwing punches.
    — Tom Dougherty, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Roseville uniformed and plain clothes officers searched the area and caught one of the juveniles in the nearby woods.
    — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 25 Nov. 2025
  • Winters was in plain clothes wearing a light blue button-up shirt, khaki pants and casual black shoes, the report notes.
    — Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 23 Dec. 2025
  • Law enforcement officers working in plain clothes or undercover is nothing new.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2025
  • The police chief noted that police officers in plain clothes were also in the crowd, along with Kirk's private security team.
    — N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Some community members have since expressed outrage over the chief's actions, especially because he was dressed in plain clothes.
    — Liz Crawford, CBS News, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Footage from the scene shows the group obeying police instructions when a plain clothes officer grabbed Salman’s hand, twisting it and causing a fracture in her wrist.
    — Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
  • Numerous state troopers and plain clothes officers were on site observing the protests and communicating with protest leaders.
    — Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Task force members usually wear plain clothes but are required by protocol to wear something identifying them as police when contacting a suspect, Packard said.
    — Katie Langford, Denver Post, 2 June 2026
  • His supporters included nearly a dozen uniformed officers in the courthouse and more than 50 officers in uniform and plain clothes who gathered outside.
    — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 5 June 2026
  • SkyCal flew over the ongoing investigation on Wednesday afternoon, where people in plain clothes and hazardous materials gear were seen walking in and out of the home's garage.
    — Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • Footage shows the group acquiescing to the police instructions when an officer in plain clothes – possibly indicating a special police unit – grabbed Salman’s hand, twisting it and causing a fracture in the wrist.
    — Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 21 Mar. 2026
  • The officer parked his personal car near Cambridge Street and the Roosevelt Towers and was wearing plain clothes when authorities said someone approached the window with a weapon drawn.
    — Brandon Truitt, CBS News, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The department will also deploy counterterrorism resources, explosive detection K-9s, bomb squad personnel and heavy weapons teams, along with plain clothes officers and a harbor unit for the waterways.
    — ABC News, 1 July 2026
  • The department will also deploy counterterrorism resources, explosive detection K-9s, bomb squad personnel and heavy weapons teams, along with plain clothes officers and a harbor unit for the waterways.
    — Anthony Izaguirre, Fortune, 2 July 2026
  • Like the individual plaintiffs and like CASA's members, these individuals reported being approached by officers who did not identify themselves, wore plain clothes, and drove unmarked vehicles.
    — New York Times, 2 Dec. 2025
  • At a concurrent raid at the STUM’s headquarters, a dozen people in plain clothes, including the Shwe Pyi Thar ward administrator, were described as forcibly entering the office to confiscate laptops and cellphones.
    — Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 11 Sep. 2025
  • During the war, main squares and streets of cities were again taken over by the police, armed forces and plain clothes security agents of the regime as several Iranians from Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and other cities of the country told ABC News.
    — Somayeh Malekian, ABC News, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Without clear definitions and standards, the city argued those plain clothes officers demand anonymity even though the officers were simultaneously making TV appearances, putting their acting resumes on IMDB and job histories on LinkedIn, and posting team photos openly on social media.
    — Charles Champion, Oc Register, 8 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'plainclothes.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: