Word.ws English Dictionary

civilised

Syllables: civ·i·lised/ˈsɪv.ɪ.laɪzd/

civilised is the simple past and past participle of civilise.

Meaning of civilise

Verb

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

  1. To educate or enlighten a person or people to a perceived higher standard of behaviour.
  2. 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.
  3. To bring from a state of savagery to an educated or refined state.

Adjective

civilised (comparative more civilised, superlative most civilised)

  1. Non-Oxford British English spelling of civilized.

Antonyms of civilised

Forms of civilised

comparativemore civilised
superlativemost civilised

Words formed from civilised

Questions about civilised

What does civilised mean?
Civilised means non-Oxford British English spelling of civilized.
What is civilised the simple past and past participle of?
Civilised is the simple past and past participle of civilise.
What part of speech is civilised?
Civilised is an adjective.
How do you pronounce civilised?
Civilised is pronounced /ˈsɪv.ɪ.laɪzd/.

Words near civilised in the dictionary

  1. civilisable
  2. civilisation
  3. civilisational
  4. civilisations
  5. civilise
  6. civilised
  7. civiliser
  8. civilisers
  9. civilises
  10. civilish
  11. civilising

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: civilised (page history and authors); civilise (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-civilized.ogg, EN-AU ck1 civilised.ogg.

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