Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To raise from barbarism to an enlightened stage of development; bring out of a primitive or savage state.
  • transitive verb To educate in matters of culture and refinement; make more polished or sophisticated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To reclaim from a savage or semi-barbarous state; introduce order and civic organization among; refine and enlighten; elevate in social and individual life.
  • To make subject to a civil instead of a criminal process.
  • To place under civil, as opposed to military, control; transfer from military to civil control.
  • To behave civilly or with propriety.
  • Also civilise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To reclaim from a savage state; to instruct in the rules and customs of civilization; to educate; to refine.
  • transitive verb Obs. or R. To admit as suitable to a civilized state.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Alternative spelling of civilise.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment
  • verb raise from a barbaric to a civilized state

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French civiliser, corresponding to civil +‎ -ize.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word civilize.

Examples

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene.

    Mark Levine: Sonic Peacemakers Go Where the Rest of Us Fear to Tread Mark Levine 2010

  • Afghanistan is far larger and more rural geographically than Iraq was; some say that to adequately occupy and "civilize" the full population would take hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of troops.

    Stuart Whatley: Civilizing Afghanistan While We Decivilize Ourselves 2010

  • Afghanistan is far larger and more rural geographically than Iraq was; some say that to adequately occupy and "civilize" the full population would take hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of troops.

    Stuart Whatley: Civilizing Afghanistan While We Decivilize Ourselves 2010

  • And it definitely follows the pattern of a woman from the East coming out West to "civilize" it.

    Basics of the Western Victoria Janssen 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.