CIVILISED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does civilised mean? 

• CIVILISED (adjective)
  The adjective CIVILISED has 2 senses:

1. having a high state of culture and development both social and technological

2. marked by refinement in taste and manners

  Familiarity information: CIVILISED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIVILISED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having a high state of culture and development both social and technological

Synonyms:

civilised; civilized

Context example:

terrorist acts that shocked the civilized world

Similar:

advanced ((of societies) highly developed especially in technology or industry)

civil (of or in a condition of social order)

humane (showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement)

Also:

educated (possessing an education (especially having more than average knowledge))

refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by refinement in taste and manners

Synonyms:

civilised; civilized; cultivated; cultured; genteel; polite

Context example:

polite society

Similar:

refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)

 Context examples 

I saw vessels near the shore and found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood of civilised man.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Heathens and savage tribes hold that doctrine, but Christians and civilised nations disown it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We are in a civilised land here, and we can’t have tomfoolery of this kind.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Another great advantage proposed by this invention was, that it would serve as a universal language, to be understood in all civilised nations, whose goods and utensils are generally of the same kind, or nearly resembling, so that their uses might easily be comprehended.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Jane, I excuse you for the present: two months' grace I allow you for the full enjoyment of your new position, and for pleasing yourself with this late-found charm of relationship; but then, I hope you will begin to look beyond Moor House and Morton, and sisterly society, and the selfish calm and sensual comfort of civilised affluence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)