How to Use civilized in a Sentence

civilized

adjective
  • Try to act like a civilized human being!
  • Stop yelling. We have to be more civilized about this.
  • A civilized society must respond to crime with fairness and justice.
  • It was hanged, on the premise that this was the most civilized method.
    — Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 16 Jan. 2017
  • Bring a picnic lunch or have a civilized tea in one of the shops.
    — Jackie Burrell, The Mercury News, 13 Jan. 2017
  • No civilized country in the world will do that.
    — Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 20 May 2026
  • Are these flies just stoned and don’t know that their rightful place is not among the civilized?
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2021
  • With that in mind, this still isn't a civilized everyday two-seater.
    — John Pearley Huffman, Car and Driver, 24 May 2021
  • Hunters, for the most part, have become a bit more civilized, at least on the surface.
    — John Schandelmeier, Alaska Dispatch News, 15 Aug. 2017
  • Part of being a great city is acting civilized.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 16 June 2026
  • This is how a civilized society deals with a man in such a state of terror?
    — Arkansas Online, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Beans, rice, oatmeal, flour, salt and yeast filled out our civilized supply.
    — John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Nov. 2020
  • Our society needs to be more humane, more civilized and to grow up.
    — Ashley Hoffman, Time, 29 June 2017
  • This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilized one.
    — Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025
  • This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilized one.
    — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 3 Jan. 2025
  • On the one hand, a hallmark of civilized thought is the sense that every life is precious.
    — Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2022
  • Those qualities of civilized life seem to be in short supply now.
    — Judith Martin, oregonlive, 20 Mar. 2023
  • Han is a character who doesn’t fit — or want to fit — into the civilized world.
    — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, 21 Apr. 2018
  • The film based on real-life outlaws is set at a time when the west starts to become more civilized.
    — Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Jan. 2023
  • Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world.
    — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Each of these stages was more productive and more civilized than the last, but also less equal and less free.
    — George Scialabba, The New Republic, 1 Nov. 2021
  • Fall and spring are more civilized seasons, as the temps rarely exceed the 80s.
    — Graham Averill, Outside Online, 27 Dec. 2024
  • Truth is, trash fish, or rough fish, often save the day when more civilized species like bass and trout won’t co-oper-ate.
    — Will Brantley, Field & Stream, 2 Aug. 2019
  • And that was the one that ended up being a really civilized breakup.
    — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 11 Feb. 2026
  • And that was the one that ended up being a really civilized breakup.
    — Lauryn Overhultz, FOXNews.com, 12 Feb. 2026
  • The announcement will be at a much more civilized hour for fans on the East Coast.
    — Paul Grein, Billboard, 5 Dec. 2025
  • Good people, nice people, civilized people have to start to make the hard choices.
    — Mattie Kahn, Glamour, 26 June 2018
  • The origins of policing date back to ancient Egypt and spread across the civilized world in many forms.
    — USA Today, 1 Oct. 2020
  • Parell and Potter wondered about their next steps — this time, in the civilized world.
    — Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2021
  • At a very civilized dinner aboard one of the ships, at a table with two admirals and Maj.
    — Austin Murphy, SI.com, 4 July 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'civilized.' 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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