civiladjective
uk/ˈsɪv.əl/us/ˈsɪv.əl/civil adjective (ORDINARY)
C1 [ before noun ] not military or religious, or relating to the ordinary people of a country:
Helicopters are mainly used for military rather than civil use.
After ten years of military dictatorship, the country now has a civil government.
We weren't married in church, but we had a civil ceremony in a registry office.
More examples
- He brought civil proceedings against the police for false imprisonment.
- 20 years of civil strife have left the country's economy in ruins.
- He pursued his claim through the civil courts.
- They married in a civil ceremony.
- The equipment was all for civil use.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Ordinary people
- community
- Essex girl
- folk
- grassroots
- Jane Doe
- Joe Bloggs
- mass market
- Middle America
- mortal
- multitude
- omnibus
- on the ground idiom
- popular
- popularly
- ruck
- street
- the common man idiom
- the general public
- the hoi polloi
- the man/woman in the street idiom
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civil adjective (LAW)
[ before noun ] specialized law relating to private arguments between people or organizations rather than criminal matters:
The matter would be better dealt with in the civil court rather than by an expensive criminal proceeding.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Rules & laws
- black codes
- bylaw
- canon
- case law
- common law
- cyberlaw
- dead letter
- diktat
- dos
- edict
- equal protection
- international law
- leash law
- licensing laws
- mandatory
- red tape
- retroactive
- rule
- statute
- statutory
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civil adjective (POLITE)
polite and formal:
His manner was civil, though not particularly friendly.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Polite and respectful
- chivalrous
- chivalry
- civility
- civilized
- civilly
- courtly
- couth
- deferential
- euphemism
- gallant
- gentlemanly
- gracious
- keep a civil tongue in your head idiom
- polite
- politely
- politically correct
- refined
- respect
- respectful
- well mannered
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Idiom(s)
keep a civil tongue in your head
not have a civil word to say about sb