Legal Definitions - sting

Definition: A sting is an undercover operation where law enforcement officers pretend to be criminals to catch actual criminals who are engaging in illegal activities.

Example: The police set up a sting operation to catch a group of thieves who were stealing cars. They posed as buyers of stolen cars and caught the thieves in the act.

Explanation: In this example, the police pretended to be interested in buying stolen cars to catch the thieves who were stealing them. This is an example of a sting operation because the police officers were pretending to be criminals to catch actual criminals.