CIVILISATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does civilisation mean? 

• CIVILISATION (noun)
  The noun CIVILISATION has 4 senses:

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

2. a particular society at a particular time and place

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

4. the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

  Familiarity information: CIVILISATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIVILISATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

social process (a process involved in the formation of groups of persons)

Derivation:

civilise (raise from a barbaric to a civilized state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A particular society at a particular time and place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization; culture

Context example:

early Mayan civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

society (an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization)

Meronyms (parts of "civilisation"):

subculture (a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs)

Domain category:

archaeology; archeology (the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "civilisation"):

Aegean civilisation; Aegean civilization; Aegean culture (the prehistoric civilization on the islands in the Aegean sea and the surrounding countries)

Helladic civilisation; Helladic civilization; Helladic culture (the bronze-age culture of mainland Greece that flourished 2500-1100 BC)

Indus civilization (the bronze-age culture of the Indus valley that flourished from about 2600-1750 BC)

Minoan civilisation; Minoan civilization; Minoan culture (the bronze-age culture of Crete that flourished 3000-1100 BC)

Mycenaean civilisation; Mycenaean civilization; Mycenaean culture (the late bronze-age culture of Mycenae that flourished 1400-1100 BC)

Paleo-American culture; Paleo-Amerind culture; Paleo-Indian culture (the prehistoric culture of the earliest human inhabitants of North America and South America)

Western civilization; Western culture (the modern culture of western Europe and North America)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization

Context example:

the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

society (an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization)

Domain category:

government; political science; politics (the study of government of states and other political units)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "civilisation"):

Islam; Muslimism (the civilization of Muslims collectively which is governed by the Muslim religion)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization; refinement

Context example:

he is remembered for his generosity and civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

excellence (the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree)

Derivation:

civilise (teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment)

 Context examples 

There are multiple theories as to what caused the collapse of the Maya civilisation, such as invasion, war, environmental degradation and collapsing trade routes.

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)

All his life he had tended and operated on the soft humans of civilisation, who lived sheltered lives and had descended out of many sheltered generations.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like untamed beasts in a cage.

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

The role of climate change in the collapse of Classic Maya civilisation is somewhat controversial, partly because previous records are limited to qualitative reconstructions, for example whether conditions were wetter or drier.

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)

Here he was compelled to violate his instinct of self-preservation, and violate it he did, for he was becoming tame and qualifying himself for civilisation.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Maya civilisation is divided into four main periods: the Preclassic (2000 BCE – 250 CE), Classic (250 CE – 800 CE), terminal Classic (800 - 1000 CE) and Postclassic (1000 CE – 1539 CE).

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)

And the chief thing demanded by these intricacies of civilisation was control, restraint—a poise of self that was as delicate as the fluttering of gossamer wings and at the same time as rigid as steel.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The severity of drought conditions during the demise of the Maya civilisation about one thousand years ago has been quantified, representing another piece of evidence that could be used to solve the longstanding mystery of what caused the downfall of one of the ancient world’s great civilisations.

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)

Based on these measurements, the researchers found that annual precipitation decreased between 41% and 54% relative to today during the period of the Maya civilisation’s collapse, with periods of up to 70% rainfall reduction during peak drought conditions, and that relative humidity declined by 2% to 7% relative to today.

(Scientists measure severity of drought during the Maya collapse, University of Cambridge)