1. of, relating to, or befitting a citizen or citizens: civil duties.
2. of or relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state: civil society; the civil branches of government.
3. of ordinary citizens or ordinary community life as distinguished from the military or the ecclesiastical: civil authorities.
4. of or in accordance with organized society; civilized.
5. sufficiently observing or befitting accepted social usages; not rude: a civil reply. see synonyms at polite.
6. being in accordance with or denoting legally recognized divisions of time: a civil year.
7. law relating to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights as distinguished from criminal, military, or international regulations or proceedings.

1. having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.
2. behaving in a reasonable or polite manner.

1. pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within the city or state.
2. subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; -- said of the community.
3. performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; -- said of an individual.
4. having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable.
5. pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
6. relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.

1. pertaining to the state in general; pertaining to organized society as represented by government.
2. specifically, relating to the commonwealth as secularly organized for purposes of peace: opposed to ecclesiastical, military, or naval; relating to the citizen in his relations to the commonwealth as thus organized, or to his fellow-citizens: as, civil rights; or, in particular, relating to property and other rights maintainable in law at the owner's suit: opposed to criminal: as, civil actions, civil courts, civil remedies.
3. reduced to order, rule, and government; not in a condition of anarchy; controlled by a regular administration; exhibiting some refinement of customs and manners; not savage or wild; civilized: as, civil life; civil society.
4. intestine; not foreign: as, civil war.
5. courteous; obliging; well bred; affable; often, merely or formally polite; not discourteous.
6. characteristic of a citizen, as opposed to a courtier, soldier, etc.; not gay or showy; sober; grave; somber.
7. more specifically, the municipal law of the roman empire, the phrase jus civile (civil law) being used in roman law for those rules and principles of law which were thought to be peculiar to the roman people, in contradistinction to those which were supposed to be common to all nations (jus gentium). by english and american legal authors civil law is now commonly used to signify the whole system of roman law, of which the principal source is the collection made by the emperor Justinian, consisting of the digest, code, and Novellæ Constitutiones. sometimes the term is also applied to the unwritten law of the principal nations of continental europe, especially of germany, which is based on the roman law. some authors speak in the latter case of modern civil law. the civil law is the basis also of the law of scotland, spanish america, Louisiana, and quebec.

1. of or occurring within the state or between or among citizens of the state
2. (of divisions of time) legally recognized in ordinary affairs of life
3. applying to ordinary citizens as contrasted with the military
4. of or in a condition of social order
5. of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals
6. not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal) adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy consideration for others