civil rights

[siv-uhl rahyts]

plural noun

(often initial capital letters)

1. rights to personal liberty established by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and certain Congressional acts, especially as applied to an individual or a minority group.

2. the rights to full legal, social, and economic equality extended to African Americans.

civil rights

plural noun

1. the personal rights of the individual citizen, in most countries upheld by law, as in the US

2. (modifier) of, relating to, or promoting equality in social, economic, and political rights

civil rights

1. A broad range of privileges and rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and subsequent amendments and laws that guarantee fundamental freedoms to all individuals. These freedoms include the rights of free expression and action (civil liberties); the right to enter into contracts, own property, and initiate lawsuits; the rights of due process and equal protection of the laws; opportunities in education and work; the freedom to live, travel, and use public facilities wherever one chooses; and the right to participate in the democratic political system.

Efforts to redress the situation of inequality, such as the civil rights movement and the women's movement, have resulted in legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in affirmative action, and in the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Word History and Origins

Origin of civil rights¹

First recorded in 1715–25

Example Sentences

Such a move could also be a prelude to de facto martial law, cancelling elections and suspending other civil rights and freedoms.

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The Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Union Theological Seminary recently published a report to support faith-based organizations, houses of worship and civil rights advocates.

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They were among 13 people who were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment at a civil rights demonstration in the Bogside area of the city.

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Too often, he said, the civil rights law has been “deployed as a form of electoral race-based affirmative action to undo a state’s constitutional pursuit of political ends.”

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The Voting Rights Act — the most successful civil rights legislation in the nation’s history — requires majority-minority seats to be drawn when a minority group is large enough, geographically concentrated and faces racial vote dilution.

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Related Words

• freedom 
• freedom of religion 
• freedom of speech 
• human rights