civilian

American  

[si-vil-yuhn] / sɪˈvɪl jən /

noun

• civilians
  plural

1. a person who is not on active duty with a military, naval, police, or fire fighting organization.

2. Informal. anyone regarded by members of a profession, interest group, society, etc., as not belonging; nonprofessional; outsider.

   We need a producer to run the movie studio, not some civilian from the business world.

3. a person versed in or studying Roman or civil law.

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adjective

1. of, pertaining to, formed by, or administered by civilians.

civilian British  

/ sɪˈvɪljən /

noun

1. 1. a person whose primary occupation is civil or nonmilitary

   2. ( as modifier )

      civilian life

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncivilian
  noun
• anticivilian
  adjective
• procivilian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• civilians
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of civilian

1350–1400; Middle English: student of civil law < Old French civilien (adj.); see civil, -ian

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Explanation

The most common meaning for civilian is simply someone who is not in the military. It can also refer to any object that is not military in origin — e.g., "civilian clothes" or "civilian life." The meaning of civilian as a non military person is a relatively new one, dating from the early 19th century. Before that it referred to the code of law that governed non-military life. In fact for hundreds of years a civilian was somebody who was a judge or otherwise an expert on the law that applied outside military courts. Because it comes originally from a French word, remember to spell it with only one "l," even though it sounds like it should have two.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

civilian civilians

But he said Israel would need to rely more on cheaper artillery or non-sophisticated bombs, further increasing risks of civilian casualties that have enraged international opinion.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Chartered flights account for a fraction of U.S. civilian air traffic, and federal safety requirements are less stringent for those operators than for airlines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

Sandri expects that Musk will be questioned as well on a series of government civilian and military communications contracts SpaceX has received.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

He also formed a civilian “posse” to respond to any potential protests after the murder of George Floyd.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2026

While most of the classes we took were taught by soldiers and sometimes ex-soldiers who were tech reps, in this case a civilian walked into the room.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

Earlier Wednesday, Zelensky awarded the first lady a national honor for her role in brokering a partial ceasefire that allowed the evacuation of civilians from a Russian-occupied town.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026

The Salvadorans and other forces must do everything to prevent casualties in areas where gang members live among civilians, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

An unspecified number of civilians were also injured during the operation, which was carried out "with rigour, balance and respect for citizens' rights", the police statement said.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

"Soldiers have targets while civilians have goals. The objective of both is victory," he said, adding that combining military and civilian disciplines would help create a generation capable of achieving both.

From BBC ● Oct. 31, 2026

There were fifty-three people aboard, about half of them Norwegian civilians.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin

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Related Words

• citizen
• noncombatant

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