civil

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"
    

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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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. 
    

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