civilization
Americannoun
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an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry, and government has been reached.
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those people or nations that have reached such a state.
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any type of culture, society, etc., of a specific place, time, or group.
Greek civilization.
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the act or process of civilizing, as by bringing out of a savage, uneducated, or unrefined state, or of being civilized.
Rome's civilization of barbaric tribes was admirable.
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cultural refinement; refinement of thought and cultural appreciation.
The letters of Madame de Sévigné reveal her wit and civilization.
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cities or populated areas in general, as opposed to unpopulated or wilderness areas.
The plane crashed in the jungle, hundreds of miles from civilization.
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modern comforts and conveniences, as made possible by science and technology.
After a week in the woods, without television or even running water, the campers looked forward to civilization again.
noun
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a human society that has highly developed material and spiritual resources and a complex cultural, political, and legal organization; an advanced state in social development
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the peoples or nations collectively who have achieved such a state
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the total culture and way of life of a particular people, nation, region, or period
classical civilization
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the process of bringing or achieving civilization
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intellectual, cultural, and moral refinement
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cities or populated areas, as contrasted with sparsely inhabited areas, deserts, etc
Other Word Forms
- civilizational adjective
- decivilization noun
- hypercivilization noun
- intercivilization noun
- overcivilization noun
- postcivilization adjective
- precivilization noun
- subcivilization noun
- supercivilization noun
Etymology
Origin of civilization
First recorded in 1765–75; from French civilisation; civilize, -ation
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That leads to the breakdown of civilization, a state where only the law of the jungle remains.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
Coerte Voorhees had tapped Kilmer, who died of pneumonia last year after years of battling throat cancer, for "As Deep as the Grave," about the pioneering archaeologist Ann Morris, a co-discoverer of the Anasazi civilization.
From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026
The Inca civilization, based high in the Andes, built the largest Indigenous empire in the Americas before European arrival.
From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026
It is the return of a recurring but never-banished nightmare about one civilization attacking another, driven by blind hatred.
From Salon • Mar. 7, 2026
We’re only down in the aqueduct for half an hour before we emerge and follow a foothill road far enough from civilization to be beyond most roadblocks.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
