Synonyms for civilization
ˌsɪv ə ləˈzeɪ ʃənciv·i·liza·tion

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. civilizationnoun

   Synonyms:
   culture, order

2. civilizationnoun

   Synonyms:
   sphere

3. civilizationnoun

   Synonyms:
   acculturation, education

4. civilizationnoun

   Synonyms:
   home, the land of the living

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.8 / 4 votes

1. civilization

   Civilization applies to nations, denoting the sum of those civil, social, economic, and political attainments by which a community is removed from barbarism; a people may be civilized while still far from refinement or culture, but civilization is susceptible of various degrees and of continued progress. Refinement applies either to nations or individuals, denoting the removal of what is coarse and rude, and a corresponding attainment of what is delicate, elegant, and beautiful. Cultivation, denoting primarily the process of cultivating the soil or growing crops, then the improved condition of either which is the result, is applied in similar sense to the human mind and character, but in this usage is now largely superseded by the term culture, which denotes a high development of the best qualities of man's mental and spiritual nature, with especial reference to the esthetic faculties and to graces of speech and manner, regarded as the expression of a refined nature. Culture in the fullest sense denotes that degree of refinement and development which results from continued cultivation through successive generations; a man's faculties may be brought to a high degree of cultivation in some specialty, while he himself remains uncultured even to the extent of coarseness and rudeness. Compare HUMANE; POLITE.

   Synonyms:
   cultivation, culture, elegance, politeness, refinement

   Antonyms:
   barbarism, boorishness, brutality, clownishness, coarseness, grossness, rudeness, rusticity, savagery, vulgarity

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 2 votes

1. civilization

   Synonyms:
   amelioration, culture, cultivation, humanization, refinement

   Antonyms:
   demoralization, savagery, uncivilization, barbarism, rudeness, brutality

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.6 / 11 votes

1. civilization, civilisationnoun

   a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)

   "the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization"

   Synonyms:
   refinement, civilisation, culture

2. civilization, civilisationnoun

   the social process whereby societies achieve an advanced stage of development and organization

   Synonyms:
   refinement, civilisation, culture

3. culture, civilization, civilisationnoun

   a particular society at a particular time and place

   "early Mayan civilization"

   Synonyms:
   culture, cultivation, acculturation, polish, civilisation, finish, refinement

4. refinement, civilization, civilisationnoun

   the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

   "a man of intellectual refinement"; "he is remembered for his generosity and civilization"

   Synonyms:
   nicety, culture, elaboration, shade, subtlety, cultivation, refining, polish, nuance, civilisation, finish, refinement, purification

Matched Categories

1. • Archeology
   • Social Process
   • Society

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:2.8 / 4 votes

1. civilizationnoun

   Synonyms:
   culture, cultivation, refinement

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "civilization":

   civilisation, civilizations, civilized, civilisations, civilizational, civility, ming, culture

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How to use civilization in a sentence?

1. Carl Sagan:

   We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

2. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

   A civilization is a heritage of beliefs, customs, and knowledge slowly accumulated in the course of centuries, elements difficult at times to justify by logic, but justifying themselves as paths when they lead somewhere, since they open up for man his inner distance.

3. George F. Will:

   We know next to nothing about virtually everything. It is not necessary to know the origin of the universe; it is necessary to want to know. Civilization depends not on any particular knowledge, but on the disposition to crave knowledge.

4. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude:

   The true test of a civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of man the country turns out.

5. Malcolm Muggeridge:

   Civilization -- a heap of rubble scavenged by scrawny English Lit. vultures.