Word.ws English Dictionary

civilising

civilising is the present participle and gerund 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.

Questions about civilising

What is civilising the present participle and gerund of?
Civilising is the present participle and gerund of civilise.

Words near civilising in the dictionary

  1. civilised
  2. civiliser
  3. civilisers
  4. civilises
  5. civilish
  6. civilising
  7. civilist
  8. civilists
  9. civilities
  10. civility
  11. civilité

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: civilising (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.

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