What does civilization mean?

Definitions for civilization
ˌsɪv ə ləˈzeɪ ʃənciv·i·liza·tion

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word civilization.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. civilization, civilisationnoun

    a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)

    "the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization"

  2. civilization, civilisationnoun

    the social process whereby societies achieve an advanced stage of development and organization

  3. culture, civilization, civilisationnoun

    a particular society at a particular time and place

    "early Mayan civilization"

  4. refinement, civilization, civilisationnoun

    the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

    "a man of intellectual refinement"; "he is remembered for his generosity and civilization"

Wiktionary

  1. civilizationnoun

    An organized culture encompassing many communities, often on the scale of a nation or a people; a stage or system of social, political or technical development.

  2. civilizationnoun

    Human society, particularly civil society.

  3. civilizationnoun

    The act or process of civilizing or becoming civilized.

    The teacher's civilization of the child was no easy task.

  4. civilizationnoun

    The state or quality of being civilized.

    He was a man of great civilization.

  5. civilizationnoun

    The act of rendering a criminal process civil.

  6. civilizationnoun

    Collectively, those people of the world considered to have a high standard of behavior and / or a high level of development. Commonly subjectively used by people of one society to exclusively refer to their society, or their elite sub-group, or a few associated societies, implying all others, in time or geography or status, as something less than civilised, as savages or barbarians. cf refinement, elitism, civilised society, the Civilised World

  7. Etymology: Confer French.

Wikipedia

  1. Civilization

    A civilization (or civilisation) is a complex society that is characterized by urban development, social stratification, a form of government, and symbolic systems of communication (such as writing).Civilizations are intimately associated with and often further defined by other socio-politico-economic characteristics, such as centralization, the domestication of both humans and other organisms, specialization of labour, culturally-ingrained ideologies of progress and supremacism, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming and expansionism.Historically, "a civilization" has often been understood as a larger and "more advanced" culture, in implied contrast to smaller, supposedly primitive cultures. In this broad sense, a civilization contrasts with non-centralized tribal societies, including the cultures of nomadic pastoralists, Neolithic societies or hunter-gatherers; however, sometimes it also contrasts with the cultures found within civilizations themselves. Civilizations are organized densely-populated settlements divided into hierarchical social classes with a ruling elite and subordinate urban and rural populations, which engage in intensive agriculture, mining, small-scale manufacture and trade. Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings.Civilization, as its etymology (see below) suggests, is a concept originally associated with towns and cities. The earliest emergence of civilizations is generally connected with the final stages of the Neolithic Revolution, culminating in the relatively rapid process of urban revolution and state-formation, a political development associated with the appearance of a governing elite.

ChatGPT

  1. civilization

    Civilization is a complex term, usually referring to a society, culture, or way of life that is considered to be advanced in many aspects such as political, economic, social, and technological organization. It often involves large scale communities who congregate in cities or regions, generally showing characteristics such as written language, development of complex systems of government, job specialization, social stratification, organized religion and the creation and use of complex tools and infrastructure. Civilizations distinguish themselves from other forms of human settlements through their permanence, advancement, and complexity.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Civilizationnoun

    the act of civilizing, or the state of being civilized; national culture; refinement

  2. Civilizationnoun

    rendering a criminal process civil

  3. Etymology: [Cf. F. civilisation.]

Wikidata

  1. Civilization

    Civilisation is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally hierarchical and urbanized. In a classical context, people were called "civilized" to set them apart from barbarians, savages, and primitive peoples while in a modern-day context, "civilized peoples" have been contrasted with indigenous peoples or tribal societies. Use of "civilization" and related concepts are controversial because they may imply superiority and inferiority, and may imply a directionality to social changes that may or may not be realistic or desirable. There is a tendency to use the term in a less strict way, to mean approximately the same thing as "culture" and therefore, the term can more broadly refer to any important and clearly defined human society. Still, even when used in this second sense, the word is often restricted to apply only to societies that have a certain set of characteristics, especially the founding of cities. Formal and informal judgements of how civilized a society is, are generally based on methods and extent of agriculture, trade routes, occupational specialization, a special governing class, and urbanism. Aside from these core elements, a civilization is often marked by any combination of a number of secondary elements, including a developed transportation system, writing, standardized measurement, currency, contractual and tort-based legal systems, characteristic art and architecture, mathematics, enhanced scientific understanding, metallurgy, political structures, and organized religion.

The Roycroft Dictionary

  1. civilization

    A device for increasing human ills; a machine for the perpetuation of the weak; an ingenious contraption for spreading disease and hunger. (See war, harlot, politician, liar, Teddy, Sulzer, Murphy, hypocrisy, newspaper, forger, jail, policemen, lawyer, walking delegate, capitalist, poverty, clergyman.) _E. g._, "Do you believe in civilization?" "Yep." From _The Confessions of Herr Krupp_.

U.S. National Library of Medicine

  1. Civilization

    The distinctly human attributes and attainments of a particular society.

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. CIVILIZATION

    An upward growth or tendency that has enabled mankind to develop the college yell from what was once only a feeble war-whoop.

Editors Contribution

  1. Civilization

    " It's an amazing form of social, cultural and behavioral discipline which binds intercontinental societies on a single page irrespective of breed, race or religion well above the board."


    Submitted by Baloch on April 4, 2015  

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of civilization in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of civilization in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of civilization in a Sentence

  1. Donald Trump:

    Civilization itself is right now under siege and we can't be just politically correct.

  2. Herbert Spencer:

    Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.

  3. Bernice King:

    We are one people, one nation, one blood, one destiny. ... All of civilization and humanity originated from the soils of Africa, our collective voice in this hour must always be louder than the one who sometimes does not reflect the legacy of my father.

  4. Yasser Abed Rabbo:

    We are speaking here in the name of the Palestinian people who had suffered for so long from terrorism and in the name of the values that we share with France, the values of liberty, the values of equality, and the values of saving the modern civilization against the criminals who are spreading all across the Arab world and they have attacked the heart of France.

  5. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

    As the Nazis strived to trample civilization and replace it with a 'master race' while destroying the Jewish people, so is Iran striving to take over the region and expand further with a declared goal of destroying the Jewish state.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for civilization

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"civilization." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Oct. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/civilization>.

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