civilise

Syllables: civ·il·ise/ˈsɪvɪlaɪz/

civilise verb: to educate or enlighten a person or people to a perceived higher standard of behaviour.

Verb

civilise (third-person singular simple present civilises, present participle civilising, simple past and past participle civilised)

To educate or enlighten a person or people to a perceived higher standard of behaviour.
To introduce or impose the standards of one civilisation upon another civilization, group or person, arguably with the intent of achieving a perceived higher standard of behavior.
To bring from a state of savagery to an educated or refined state.

آدمی بننا, آدمی بنانا, انسان بنانا, متمدن کرنا

to educate to a perceived higher standard of behaviour: giáo hóa, khai hóa, truyền bá văn minh

third-person singular present	civilises
present participle	civilising
past participle	civilised
past	civilised
alternative form	civilize

From civil + -ise.

What does civilise mean?: Civilise means to educate or enlighten a person or people to a perceived higher standard of behaviour.
What is civilise in Urdu?: Civilise in Urdu is آدمی بننا, آدمی بنانا, انسان بنانا. See Civilise meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is civilise?: Civilise is a verb.
How do you pronounce civilise?: Civilise is pronounced /ˈsɪvɪlaɪz/.
What is the past tense of civilise?: The past tense of civilise is civilised.

Adapted from Wiktionary: civilise (page history and authors); civilise (Urdu Wiktionary) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-civilise.wav.

Cite this entry: “civilise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/civilise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.