Civil

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     2. Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not
        barbarous; -- said of the community.
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              England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but
              even the other day since England grew civil.
                                                    --Spenser.
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     3. Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to
        government; -- said of an individual.
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              Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others;
              they come within a step or two of heaven. --Preston
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     4. Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed
        to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous;
        complaisant; affable.
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     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
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     5. Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from
        military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
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     6. Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit
        distinct from criminal proceedings.
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     {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}.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  civil
       adj 1: applying to ordinary citizens; "civil law"; "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: {polite}]
          [ant: {uncivil}]
       3: of or occurring within the state or between or among
          citizens of the state; "civil affairs"; "civil strife";
          "civil disobediece"; "civil branches of government"
       4: of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals;
          "civil rights"; "civil liberty"; "civic duties"; "civic
          pride" [syn: {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"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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.