civil
UK/ˈsɪv.əl/
civil adjective: having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.
Adjective
civil (comparative more civil or civiler, superlative most civil or civilest)
- Having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.
- She went into civil service because she wanted to help the people.
- A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour
For private sorrow’s barren song,
When more and more the people throng
The chairs and thrones of civil power?’1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 35
- Behaving in a reasonable or polite manner; avoiding displays of hostility.
- It was very civil of him to stop the argument.
- They despise each other, but they are always civil in public.
- Antonyms:
- anti-civil, impolite, inconsiderate, noncivil, rude
- In a peaceful and well-ordered state.
- Herein thou haſt done good ſeruice to thy country:
VVere all inhumaine ſlaues ſo ſerued as he,
England would be ciuill, and from all ſuch dealings free.1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act I
- Herein thou haſt done good ſeruice to thy country:
- Relating to private relations among citizens, as opposed to criminal matters.
- a civil case
- Secular.
- As if our Saviour had said, No man can enter into heaven except he be born again; so as he speaketh not only of notorious Sinners, as Adulterers, Drunkards, Swearers, & c. but of all who are in their natural condition, tho' they live never so unblameably, free from scandalous sins, if they be not...1680, A Practical Discourse of Regeneration
- The word from which "evil" in Romans 13.4 is translated means "generally opposed to civil goodness or virtue, in a commonwealth, and not to spiritual good, or religion, in the church.2008, Jerald Finney, God Betrayed, →ISBN, page 174
- Synonyms:
- nonreligious, temporal, worldy, areligious, earthly, irreligious, laicist, laicistic, mundane, profane
Proper noun capitalized: Civil
Civil (plural Civils)
- A surname.
civil meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
civil in Hindi
- related to people and government office as opposed to military or religion
- सिविल sivil, नागरिक nāgrik
- behaving in a reasonable or polite manner
- सिविल sivil, मिलनसार milansār, सभ्य sabhya
civil in Tamil
- குடிசார், குடியியல், குடிமுறைக்குகந்த, குடிமுறைக்குரிய, படைத்துறை சாராத, உரிமையியல் சார்ந்த
civil in Marathi
- नागरी, सिव्हिल, दिवाणी
civil in Urdu
- related to people and government office as opposed to military or religion
- شَہْری śahrī, مَدَنی madanī
More languagesFewer languages
- civil in Bengali
- নাগরিক nagrik
- civil in Malayalam
- സിവിൽ sivil
- civil in Kannada
- ದಿವಾನಿ, ಸಿವಿಲ್, ಅಸೈನಿಕ, ಮಿಲಿಟರಿಯಲ್ಲದ
- civil in Punjabi
- ਸਿਵਲ
- civil in Gujarati
- સિવિલ sivil
- civil in Odia
- ସାମାଜିକ sāmājika
- civil in Tagalog
- bayanhin
- civil in Arabic
- مَدَنِيّ madaniyy, أَهْلِيّ ʔahliyy
- civil in Malay
- sivil
- civil in Indonesian
- sipil, beradab, perdata
- civil in Vietnamese
- dân sự
Examples of civil in a sentence
- He’s a real history buff. He knows everything there is to know about the civil war.
- She was bent about "certain kinds of people" having civil rights; she wanted to roll those back.
- As civil war continues in Iraq, the U.S. president's approval ratings are in freefall.
Synonyms of civil
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of civil
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more civil |
| comparative | civiler |
| superlative | most civil |
| superlative | civilest |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Civils |
Origin of civil
From Middle English cyvyl, civil, borrowed from Old French civil, from Latin cīvīlis (“relating to a citizen”), from cīvis (“citizen”) ultimately from proto-Indo-European *ḱey-. Cognate with Old English hīwen (“household”), hīrǣden (“family”). More at hind; hird. (polite): Compare typologically urbane (<< Latin urbs), courteous (akin to court).
Words formed from civil
- American civil religion
- civil action
- civil aviation
- civil celebrant
- civil code
- civil court
- civil day
- civil death
- civil defence
- civil defense
- civil disobedience
- civil enforcement officer
- civil engineer
- civil engineering
- civil ensign
- Civil Guard
- civilian
- civilise
- civilish
- civilist
- civility
- civilize
- civil law
- civil law notary
- civil libertarian
- civil liberties
- civil liberty
- civil list
- civilly
- civil marriage
- civilness
- civilogue
- civil parish
- civil partner
- civil partnership
- civil power
- civil procedure
- civil registry
- civil rightist
- civil rights
- civil rights movement
- civil servant
- civil service
- civil society
- civil status
- civil suit
- civil time
- civil tongue
- civil trial
- civil twilight
- civil union
- civil violation
- civil war
- civil wrong
- civil year
- Common-Civil-Calendar-and-Time Calendar
- keep a civil tongue
- keep a civil tongue in one's head
- keep a civil tongue in one's mouth
- minor civil division
Phrases with civil
- civil days
- civil laws
- civil wars
- civil codes
- civil lists
- civil right
- civil suits
- civil years
- civil courts
- civil powers
- civil trials
- civil unions
29 more phrasesFewer phrases
- civil wrongs
- civil actions
- civil ensigns
- civil tongues
- civil parishes
- civil partners
- civil servants
- civil services
- civil statuses
- U.S. Civil War
- civil engineers
- civil marriages
- civil rightists
- civil societies
- civil twilights
- civil celebrants
- civil registries
- civil violations
- American Civil War
- civil law notaries
- civil partnerships
- minor civil divisions
- civil rights movements
- civil enforcement officers
- put a civil tongue in one's head
- kept a civil tongue in one's head
- put a civil tongue in one's mouth
- keeps a civil tongue in one's head
- keeping a civil tongue in one's head
Words that rhyme with civil
Questions about civil
- What does civil mean?
- Civil means having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.
- What is civil in Hindi?
- Civil in Hindi is सिविल (sivil), नागरिक (nāgrik), मिलनसार (milansār). See Civil meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is civil?
- Civil can be an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce civil?
- Civil is pronounced /ˈsɪv.əl/ (UK).
Words near civil in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: civil (page history and authors); Civil (page history and authors); civil (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); civil (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); নাগরিক (Bengali) (page history and authors); സിവിൽ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); civil (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); civil (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); સિવિલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ସାମାଜିକ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-civil.ogg.
Cite this entry: “civil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/civil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.