[syn: civil, civic]
5. (of divisions of time) legally recognized in ordinary affairs of life;
- Example: "the civil calendar"
- Example: "a civil day begins at mean midnight"
6. of or in a condition of social order;
- Example: "civil peoples"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Civil \Civ"il\, a. [L. civilis, fr. civis citizen: cf. F. civil.
See City.]
1. Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his
relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within
the city or state.
[1913 Webster]
2. Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not
barbarous; -- said of the community.
[1913 Webster]
England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but
even the other day since England grew civil.
--Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
3. Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to
government; -- said of an individual.
[1913 Webster]
Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others;
they come within a step or two of heaven. --Preston
[1913 Webster]
4. Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed
to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous;
complaisant; affable.
[1913 Webster]
Note: "A civil man now is one observant of slight external
courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and
man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the
duties and obligations flowing from his position as a
'civis' and his relations to the other members of that
'civitas.'" --Trench
[1913 Webster]
5. Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from
military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
[1913 Webster]
6. Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit
distinct from criminal proceedings.
[1913 Webster]
Civil action, an action to enforce the rights or redress
the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal
proceeding.
Civil architecture, the architecture which is employed in
constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in
distinction from military and naval architecture, as
private houses, palaces, churches, etc.
Civil death. (Law.) See under Death.
Civil engineering. See under Engineering.
Civil law. See under Law.
Civil list. See under List.
Civil remedy (Law), that given to a person injured, by
action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.
Civil service, all service rendered to and paid for by the
state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or
military affairs.
Civil service reform, the substitution of business
principles and methods for the spoils system in the
conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of
appointments to office.
Civil state, the whole body of the laity or citizens not
included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical
states.
Civil suit. Same as Civil action.
Civil war. See under War.
Civil year. See under Year.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
civil
adj 1: applying to ordinary citizens as contrasted with the
military; "civil authorities"
2: not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal)
adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy
consideration for others; "even if he didn't like them he
should have been civil"- W.S. Maugham [syn: civil,
polite] [ant: rude, uncivil]
3: of or occurring within the state or between or among citizens
of the state; "civil affairs"; "civil strife"; "civil
disobedience"; "civil branches of government"
4: of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals;
"civil rights"; "civil liberty"; "civic duties"; "civic
pride" [syn: civil, civic]
5: (of divisions of time) legally recognized in ordinary affairs
of life; "the civil calendar"; "a civil day begins at mean
midnight" [ant: sidereal]
6: of or in a condition of social order; "civil peoples"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
131 Moby Thesaurus words for "civil":
absolute, accommodating, affable, agreeable, amiable, appropriate,
aristocratic, attentive, authoritarian, autocratic, autonomous,
becoming, bland, bureaucratic, civic, civilian, civilized,
clubbable, clubbish, clubby, common, communal, communicative,
companionable, companionate, compatible, complaisant, congenial,
congregational, considerate, constitutional, cordial, cosmopolitan,
courteous, courtly, cultivated, decent, decorous, deferential,
democratic, despotic, dictatorial, diplomatic, domestic, fair,
fascist, federal, federalist, federalistic, felicitous,
fit for society, fitting, fond of society, formal, friendly,
general, genial, genteel, governmental, graceful, gracious,
gregarious, gubernatorial, happy, heteronomous, hospitable,
impolite, internal, international, laic, laical, lay, mannered,
mannerly, matriarchal, matriarchic, meet, monarchal, monarchial,
monarchic, monocratic, national, nonclerical, nonecclesiastical,
nonministerial, nonordained, nonpastoral, nonreligious, obliging,
official, oligarchal, oligarchic, parliamentarian, parliamentary,
patriarchal, patriarchic, pluralistic, polished, polite, politic,
political, popular, proper, public, refined, republican,
respectful, right, secular, secularist, secularistic, seemly,
self-governing, sociable, social, social-minded, societal,
solicitous, state, suave, suitable, supranational, tactful,
temporal, theocratic, thoughtful, totalitarian, ungracious, urbane,
well-bred, well-mannered
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CIVIL. This word has various significations. 1. It is used in
contradistinction to barbarous or savage, to indicate a state of society
reduced to order and regular government; thus we speak of civil life, civil
society, civil government, and civil liberty
2. It is sometimes used in contradistinction to criminal, to indicate
the private rights and remedies of men, as members of the community, in
contrast to those which are public and relate to the government; thus we
speak of civil process and criminal process, civil jurisdiction and criminal
jurisdiction.
3. It is also used in contradistinction to military or ecclesiastical,
to natural or foreign; thus we speak of a civil station, as opposed to a
military or ecclesiastical station, a civil death as opposed to a natural
death; a civil war as opposed to a foreign war. Story on the Const. Sec. 789;
1 Bl. Coin. 6, 125, 251; Montesq. Sp. of Laws, B 1, c. 3; Ruth. Inst. B. 2,
c. 2; Id. ch. 3Id. ch. 8, p. 359; Hein. Elem. Jurisp. Nat. B. 2, ch. 6.