释义 |
ci·vil·i·ty \sə̇ˈviləd.ē, -ətē, -i\ noun (-es) Etymology: Middle English civylite, from Middle French civilité, from Latin civilitat-, civilitas, from civilis + -itat-, -itas -ity 1. a. obsolete : deference or allegiance to the social order befitting a citizen b. obsolete : civil government or polity c. : solidarity of civil rights and obligations and civil justice in the civil order < our great traditions of civility, the liberties western man has won for himself after centuries of struggle — Walter Lippmann > 2. : the state of being civilized : civilization 3 < I have heard ladies say that the measure of a people's civility is the position it accords to women — Clive Bell > 3. archaic : training in the humanities 4. a. : civil conduct; especially : bare observance of the forms of accepted social behavior or adequate perfunctory politeness b. obsolete : decent behavior or treatment : propriety c. : an act or expression conforming to conventional patterns of social behavior |