How to Use civil in a Sentence

civil

adjective
  • She was barely civil to me.
  • It was hard to be civil when I felt so angry.
  • They got married in a civil ceremony at city hall.
  • It is not yet known who will be named in the civil suit.
    — Sofi Zeman, Kansas City Star, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Combs has denied all of the civil claims.
    — Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN Money, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The same trend emerges in civil cases.
    — Richard Lorren Jolly, The Conversation, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Tole has filed a civil suit against Sanchez and Fox.
    — Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Each of Levine’s charges in the civil case was dismissed.
    — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 11 June 2026
  • Army paid a $4,000 civil fine for the breach.
    — Grace Zokovitch, Boston Herald, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Whether a civil suit will be filed is being discussed.
    — Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2026
  • He was never charged with a crime, and civil claims have been settled.
    — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 2 Apr. 2026
  • But civil readiness is still a question mark.
    — Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Silva's ex-wife is not named as a defendant in the civil suit.
    — Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 11 Mar. 2023
  • It’s put aside the rule of law and civil behavior in favor of shock troops.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 31 July 2024
  • Nearly all of the civil lawsuits around the crash have been settled out of court.
    — CBS News, 14 May 2026
  • Huth’s suit is the first civil case against Cosby to reach trial.
    — Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 16 June 2022
  • The next hearing in this civil suit is still to be determined.
    — Kristina Rex, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2026
  • These may stem from high levels of crime, civil unrest, or health issues.
    — Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025
  • This was the first step in a fight of many years to achieve justice and build a civil society.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2022
  • Bill Cosby faces a civil trial this week.
    — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Most states already have some form of civil commitment law.
    — Brian Mann, NPR, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Combs alone faces at least 70 civil suits stemming from a flood of complaints.
    — Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 2026
  • Ramirez said that her civil lawsuit would proceed forward.
    — Marcos Breton, Sacbee.com, 28 Oct. 2025
  • In addition, her case is one of the last civil suits that Cosby faces.
    — Josiah Bates, Time, 20 May 2022
  • As a business owner, I have been involved in three civil suits.
    — Rachel Royster may 14, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 May 2026
  • But legal experts and civil society groups say the changes don’t go far enough.
    — Reuters, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2022
  • As the authors note, the trial can be seen as a founding event of the civil-rights movement.
    — Frank Gannon, WSJ, 22 May 2022
  • Survivors have filed at least six civil lawsuits in response to the shooting.
    — Ben Wheeler june 12, Kansas City Star, 12 June 2026
  • Jury duty is a civil obligation, and many of us will be called to serve at least once in our lives.
    — Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Depp won a defamation suit against Heard last month in a high-profile civil trial.
    — CBS News, 13 July 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'civil.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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