Rent-a-cop

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A private security guard, usually one regarded as inferior to and less skilled than an actual law enforcement officer. colloquial, derogatory

    "“What got into you tonight? Why'd you pull that scene at the arcade? I had to mess up this rentacop^([sic]) came after me with nunchucks.”"

Example

More examples

"“What got into you tonight? Why'd you pull that scene at the arcade? I had to mess up this rentacop^([sic]) came after me with nunchucks.”"

Etymology

From rent + a + cop, modelled after the brand name Rent-a-Car.

More for "rent-a-cop"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.