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civilian Definition

ci·vil·ian (sə vil′yən)

noun

  1. any person not an active member of the armed forces or of an official force having police power
  2. Archaic a specialist in civil or Roman law

Etymology: ME < OFr civilien < L civilis, civil

adjective

of or for civilians; nonmilitary

civilian Synonyms

civilian

modif.

nonmilitary, unmilitary, nonmilitant, noncombat, noncombatant, pacificist, not in the armed forces, in civilian life, lay, private, in civvies*, in mufti*.

civilian Synonyms

civilian

n.

(private) citizen, noncombatant, person not in the armed forces; see commoner.

civilian Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • kill: Then there are the innocent civilians killed in Iraq.
  • maim: Bombs kills or maims civilians ( including women and children ) in Iraq and cannot therefore ask Israel for a cease fire in Lebanon.
  • terrorize: To Makarios's right stood the right wing guerrilla leader George Grivas, who spent more time terrorizing Turkish civilians than fighting the British.
  • displace: Sources of information include local authorities, local civilians, and displaced civilians.
  • murder: People followed Hitler thinking his way was right, even to the point of murdering Jewish civilians.
  • protect: The international community is obviously neither able nor willing to protect Bosnian civilians.

Preposition: on

side: Thankfully we managed to talk to them and say that we would give out the relief supplies to civilians on both sides.

Adjective modifier

  • innocent: The killing of innocent civilians is the issue here.
  • unarmed: To suppress the revolt, Kolchak ordered soldiers to open fire, killing over 300 unarmed civilians.
  • Lebanese: Up to seven Israeli soldiers and two Lebanese civilians were killed in the cross-border fighting, according to reports.
  • Palestinian: Over the past 15 months, Israel has killed more than 900 Palestinian civilians, 25 percent of them under the age of 18.
  • Iraqi: Saddam Hussein could have been removed from power without bombing Iraqi civilians surely?
  • Serb: Contributing to the flight of Serbs from Kosovo are reports of violence against Serb civilians.

Modifies a noun

  • casualty: Debt of Honor Register provides the names of Second World War civilian casualties.
  • population: Being sure the civilian population is not attacked is key.
  • internee: Many of the Far East prisoners were civilian internees and their story should also be told and remembered.
  • personnel: Pensions payable after normal retirement age are met by the PCSPS for civilian personnel.
  • clothes: Most of them wore civilian clothes, some of them SS uniform.
  • airliner: The Nimrod entered service in 1969 as the MR 1 Variant, derived from the civilian airliner; the Comet.

Noun used with modifier

murder: In 1935 I would never have believed Zionists would murder civilians - they discriminated against the Arabs, that's all.