civilian
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
Someone who does not belong to a particular group or engage in a particular activity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhvilyuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
səˈvɪljən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the armed forces.
informal
A person who does not belong to a particular group or engage in a particular activity, an outsider.
adjective
Not related to the military, police or other governmental professions.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the armed forces.
Used this way, civilian is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- noncombatant , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use civilian
- “Many civilians were evacuated from the danger zone during the crisis.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Ordinary clothing as distinguished from uniforms, work clothes, clerical garb, etc.
Ordinary clothing as distinguished from uniforms, work clothes, clerical garb, etc.
Ordinary clothing as distinguished from uniforms, work clothes, clerical garb, etc.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: person following the pursuits of civil life
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.