civilization

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

civilisation (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from French civilisation.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
(General Australian) IPA^(key): [ˌsɪv.ə.lɑeˈzæɪ.ʃən]
(US) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ə.ləˈzeɪ.ʃən/

Audio (US)

(file)

Noun

civilization (countable and uncountable, plural civilizations)

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.
the Aztec civilization
Western civilization
Modern civilization is a product of industrialization and globalization.
- 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page rise and fall:
  But civilizations, like the penis, rise and fall, and when the towers and battlements crumble into the earth, they return to the embrace of the Great Mother.
(uncountable) Human society, particularly civil society.
A hermit doesn't much care for civilization.
I'm glad to be back in civilization after a day with that rowdy family.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 159:
  Civilisation has imbued man's minds with false ideas of the evil of sex and its fulfilment.
The act or process of civilizing or becoming civilized.
The teacher's civilization of the child was no easy task.
The state or quality of being civilized.
He was a man of great civilization.
(obsolete) The act of rendering a criminal process civil.

Synonyms

(large-scale stage of societal development): culture, order
(group of countries): sphere
(act of civilizing): education, acculturation
(preferred human society): home, the land of the living

Derived terms

anticivilization
civilizational
civilizationally
civilization-state
cybercivilization
incivilization
Indus Valley Civilization
microcivilization
multicivilization
precivilization
supercivilization
uncivilization

Related terms

civilize

Translations

organized culture

Albanian: qytetërim (sq), kulturë (sq)
Amharic: ስልጣኔ m (səlṭane), ሥልጣኔ m (śəlṭane)
Arabic: حِضَارَة‎ (ar) f (ḥiḍāra), تَمَدُّن‎ m (tamaddun), مَدَنِيَّة‎ f (madaniyya)
Egyptian Arabic: حضارة‎ f (ḥaḍāra)
Armenian: քաղաքակրթություն (hy) (kʿałakʿakrtʿutʿyun)
Asturian: civilización f
Azerbaijani: sivilizasiya, mədəniyyət (az)
Belarusian: цывіліза́цыя f (cyvilizácyja)
Bengali: সভ্যতা (bn) (sôbhẏta), তমদ্দুন (bn) (tômôddun), তহজিব (tôhzib)
Breton: sevenadur (br) m
Bulgarian: цивилиза́ция (bg) f (civilizácija)
Burmese: ယဉ်ကျေးမှု (my) (yanykye:hmu.)
Catalan: civilització (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 文明 (zh) (wénmíng), 文化 (zh) (wénhuà)
Coptic: ⲓⲉⲃⲟⲩⲱⲓⲛⲓ m (iebouōini)
Czech: civilizace (cs) f
Danish: civilisation c, kultur (da) c
Dutch: beschaving (nl) f
Esperanto: civilizo (eo)
Estonian: tsivilisatsioon
Faroese: mentan f, siðmenning f
Finnish: kulttuuri (fi), korkeakulttuuri (fi), sivilisaatio (fi)
French: civilisation (fr) f
Galician: civilización (gl) f
Georgian: ცივილიზაცია (civilizacia)
German: Zivilisation (de) f, Kultur (de) f
Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
Hebrew: צִיוִילִיזַצְיָה / ציוויליזציה‎ (he) f (tsivilizátsia)
Hindi: सभ्यता (hi) f (sabhyatā)
Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
Icelandic: siðmenning f
Irish: sibhialtacht f
Italian: civiltà (it) f
Japanese: 文明 (ja) (ぶんめい, bunmei)
Kazakh: өркениет (örkeniet)
Khmer: អរិយធម៌ (km) (ʼaʼreyaʼthɔə)
Korean: 문명(文明) (ko) (munmyeong), 문화(文化) (ko) (munhwa)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ئاوەدانی‎ (ku) (awedanî)
Kyrgyz: цивилизация (tsivilizatsiya), маданият (ky) (madaniyat)
Latin: exculta hominum vīta f
Lao: ອາລິຍະທຳ (lo) (ʼā li nya tham)
Latvian: civilizācija (lv) f
Ligurian: civiltæ
Lithuanian: civilizacija f
Macedonian: цивилизација f (civilizacija)
Malay: tamadun (ms), peradaban
Maltese: ċiviltà f
Manchu: ᡧᡠ
ᡤᡝᠩᡤᡳᠶᡝᠨ (šu genggiyen)
Maori: puāwaitanga
Mongolian: соёл иргэншил (sojol irgenšil)
Nepali: सभ्यता (sabhyatā)
Norwegian: sivilisasjon (no) m
Ottoman Turkish: مدنیت‎ (medeniyyet), تمدن‎ (temeddün)
Pashto: تمدن‎ (ps) m (tamadón)
Persian: تمدن‎ (fa) (tamaddon), مدنیت‎ (fa) (madaniyyat)
Piedmontese: sivilisassion f
Polish: cywilizacja (pl) f
Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
Romanian: civilizație (ro) f, cultură (ro) f
Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
Rusyn: цівіліза́ція f (civilizácija)
Sanskrit: सभ्यता (sa) f (sabhyatā)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: цивилизација f
Roman: civilizácija (sh) f
Slovak: civilizácia f
Slovene: civilizacija (sl) f
Spanish: civilización (es) f
Swedish: civilisation (sv) c, kultur (sv) c
Tagalog: kabihasnan (tl)
Tajik: тамаддун (tamaddun), маданият (madaniyat)
Thai: อารยธรรม (th) (aa-rá-yá-tam)
Tigrinya: ስልጣኔ (səlṭane)
Turkish: ekinç, medeniyet (tr), uygarlık (tr)
Turkmen: medeniýet
Ukrainian: цивіліза́ція (uk) f (cyvilizácija)
Urdu: تہذیب‎ (ur) (tahzīb), تمدن‎ (tamaddun)
Uzbek: tamaddun (uz), madaniyat (uz), tsivilizatsiya, sivilizatsiya (uz)
Vietnamese: văn minh (vi) (文明)
West Frisian: beskaving
Yiddish: ציוויליזאַציע‎ f (tsivilizatsye)

human society

Czech: civilizace (cs) f
Danish: civilisation c
Dutch: bewoonde wereld
Finnish: sivistys (fi), sivistynyt yhteiskunta
German: Kultur (de) f
Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
Hebrew: צִיוִילִיזַצְיָה / ציוויליזציה‎ (he) f (tsivilizátsia)
Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
Irish: sibhialtacht f
Italian: civiltà (it) f
Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
Romanian: civilizație (ro) f
Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: цивилизација f
Roman: civilizácija (sh) f
Swedish: civilisation (sv) c
Tagalog: kabihasnan (tl)
Turkish: insanlık (tr)

act or process of civilizing or becoming civilized

Asturian: civilización f
Catalan: civilització (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 文明化 (zh) (wénmínhuà)
Danish: civilisering c
Dutch: civilisatie (nl)
Finnish: sivistäminen (fi), sivistyminen (fi), sivilisaatio (fi)
Galician: civilización (gl) f
German: Zivilisiertwerden n
Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
Italian: civilizzazione (it) f
Japanese: 文明化 (ぶんめいか, bunmeika)
Korean: 문명화(文明化) (munmyeonghwa)
Maori: puāwaitanga, whakapuāwaitanga
Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
Romanian: civilizare (ro) f
Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: цивилизираност f
Roman: civilìzīranōst (sh) f
Swedish: civilisering c
Turkish: medenîleşme, uygarlaşma (tr)

state or quality of being civilized

Catalan: civilitat (ca) f
Finnish: sivistyneisyys (fi)
Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
Irish: sibhialtacht f
Italian: civiltà (it) f
Manx: ardveenid f
Maori: puāwaitanga
Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
Romanian: civilitate f
Russian: цивилизо́ванность (ru) f (civilizóvannostʹ), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
Turkish: sivilleşme (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} شارستانێتی‎ (şaristanêtî)

Proper noun

civilization

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

Translations

people of the world considered to have a high standard of behavior

Catalan: civilització (ca) f
Danish: civilisation c
Dutch: beschaving (nl)
German: Zivilisation (de) f
Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
Italian: civiltà (it) f, civilizzazione (it) f
Korean: 교양인 (ko) (gyoyang'in)
Norwegian: sivilisasjon (no) m
Persian: ^{(please verify)} تمدّن‎ (fa) (tamaddon)
Polish: cywilizacja (pl) f
Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija)
Swedish: civilisation (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} цивилизация (bg) (civilizacija), ^{(please verify)} цивилизованност (civilizovannost), ^{(please verify)} култура (bg) (kultura)
Esperanto: (10) ^{(please verify)} civilizo (eo)
French: ^{(please verify)} civilisation (fr)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} civilizatio
Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} kulturen f
Telugu: ^{(please verify)} నాగరికత (te) (nāgarikata)
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} medeniyet (tr), ^{(please verify)} uygarlık (tr)

References

civilization in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
civilization in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
civilization at OneLook Dictionary Search
"civilization" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 57.
civilization in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.