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wanted poster

wanted poster

11 3.9
A public notice with a photo and details of a person police are looking for
  • noun
  • /ˈwɑːntɪd ˈpoʊstər/
  • Formal
translation icon : cartel de 'Se busca'
  • After the robbery, the authorities created a wanted poster that featured the suspect's photograph.
  • FBI wanted poster
  • faces on wanted posters
  • issue wanted posters

Qatar funds Hamas, Syrian President, war criminal was on an FBI wanted poster.

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Examples

  • The police have issued wanted posters and set up an appeal.

  • Now, you'll have seen these sort of wanted posters before.

  • And on The Wanted poster was my name.

  • We can put up "Wanted" posters all over school.

  • If his "Wanted" poster appears at the post office, I hope someone will let me know.

    Blog text (10)
  • I recognize him from the wanted posters.

  • There were wanted posters everywhere.

  • Here is the latest "Wanted" poster.

  • Man, your face is on a wanted poster downtown.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • We can go down to the Bi-Lo and make a hundred copies on the machine I saw down there, and then we can put wanted posters up all over.

    Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

wanted notice
vswanted poster
  • Formal
5.8

A public message from the police asking people to help find a person for questioning or arrest

is focused on a printed notice with picture and details for local apprehension
International Wanted Notice
vswanted poster
  • Formal
7.6

An official Interpol notice that asks countries to arrest and send back a person accused of a crime

is a local printed appeal with photo and national distribution

Surface Forms

wanted poster singular

Morphology

want + poster

The noun phrase straightforwardly combines 'wanted' (sought by authorities) with 'poster' (a public printed notice), so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a notice displaying a person who is wanted. This adjective + noun compositional pattern is transparent and common across languages, making the meaning predictable for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Wanted poster The noun wanted poster comes from the literal idea of a paper poster that says someone is wanted by the police. These picture notices were put in public so people could see the face and help catch the person, so today the phrase means 'a public notice' asking for help to find someone.