# civilisation

Pronunciation: UK/AUS say "siv-i-ly-ZAY-shuhn" /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/; US say "siv-i-li-ZAY-shuhn" /ˌsɪv.ɪ.lɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/

## Noun

1. A large organised culture made up of many communities, often a whole nation or people; also, a particular stage or system of social, political or technical development.
   - Simple: A large, organised society with its own way of life, often a whole nation, or how far a society has developed.
   - _Historians still argue about why the Indus Valley civilisation went into decline._
   - _Modern civilisation depends on electricity to a degree few people stop to think about._
2. Human society, especially civil society: the settled, organised life people share with one another.
   - Simple: Human society, especially the ordered world where people live together.
   - _After a fortnight of camping on the moors, we were glad to get back to civilisation._
   - _The old man had turned his back on civilisation and lived alone in a cottage in the hills._
3. The condition a person or people is in when they are civilised, in culture, manners and conduct.
   - Simple: The quality of being civilised, with good manners and a developed way of life.
   - _She was a woman of wide reading and great civilisation._
   - _To the visiting journalist, the town's free libraries, clean streets and courteous bus drivers spoke of a high degree of civilisation._
4. The act of making a person or people civilised, or the process by which they become civilised.
   - Simple: Bringing a civilised way of life to a people or place, or the change as they become civilised.
   - _The colonial rulers claimed that their purpose was the civilisation of the peoples they governed._
   - _The gradual civilisation of the frontier towns brought schools, courts and churches._

## Noun

5. The legal act of turning a criminal proceeding into a civil one. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Changing a criminal case in court into a civil case.

## Origin

English took the word from French civilisation. Seen as an English formation, it breaks down as civilise with -ation added, or as civil with -isation.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/civilisation (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).