CIVILIAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does civilian mean? 

• CIVILIAN (noun)
  The noun CIVILIAN has 1 sense:

1. a nonmilitary citizen

  Familiarity information: CIVILIAN used as a noun is very rare.

• CIVILIAN (adjective)
  The adjective CIVILIAN has 1 sense:

1. associated with civil life or performed by persons who are not active members of the military

  Familiarity information: CIVILIAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIVILIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A nonmilitary citizen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

citizen (a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community)

Antonym:

serviceman (someone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force)

Derivation:

civilian (associated with civil life or performed by persons who are not active members of the military)

• CIVILIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Associated with civil life or performed by persons who are not active members of the military

Context example:

civilian life

Similar:

civil (applying to ordinary citizens as contrasted with the military)

noncombatant (used of civilians in time of war)

Antonym:

military (associated with or performed by members of the armed services as contrasted with civilians)

Derivation:

civilian (a nonmilitary citizen)

 Context examples 

There are not such a very great number of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have attracted attention.

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

No, returned Steerforth, the advocates are civilians—men who have taken a doctor's degree at college—which is the first reason of my knowing anything about it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Peoria, Illinois, helped mass produce the antibiotic during World War II to treat Allied soldiers and later civilians.

(Soil Bacterium Tapped for Penicillin Guard Duty, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

The fact that a coastguard was the first on board may save some complications, later on, in the Admiralty Court; for coastguards cannot claim the salvage which is the right of the first civilian entering on a derelict.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You’ll never pass as a pure-bred civilian as long as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in your sleeve.

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

We were shut up in Bhurtee, the regiment of us with half a battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot of civilians and women-folk.

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