From Middle English cyvyl, civil, borrowed from Old French civil, from Latin cīvīlis, from cīvis.

• enPR: ʹsĭv-əl IPA: /ˈsɪv.əl/

civil

1. (uncomparable) Having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.

   She went into civil service because she wanted to help the people.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto XXI, page 35 ↗:

     A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour
     ⁠For private sorrow’s barren song,
     ⁠When more and more the people throng
     The chairs and thrones of civil power?’

2. (comparable) Behaving in a reasonable or polite manner; avoiding displays of hostility.

   Antonyms: anti-civil, impolite, inconsiderate, noncivil, rude

   It was very civil of him to stop the argument.

   They despise each other, but they are always civil in public.

3. (archaic) In a peaceful and well-ordered state.
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I ↗:

     Herein thou haſt done good ſeruice to thy country:
     VVere all inhumaine ſlaues ſo ſerued as he,
     England would be ciuill, and from all ſuch dealings free.

4. (legal) Relating to private relations among citizens, as opposed to criminal matters.

   a civil case

5. Secular.

• civic
• civilization

• French: civil
• German: zivil, bürgerlich
• Italian: civile
• Portuguese: civil
• Russian: гражда́нский
• Spanish: civil

• French: civil
• German: zivilisiert
• Portuguese: civil, civilizado
• Russian: цивилизо́ванный
• Spanish: civil

1. Surname.