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.
  • Paul Haggis took the stand on Thursday for a second day in his civil trial, denying the rape charges leveled against him.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 3 Nov. 2022
  • The two sides settled as a jury was being selected in a New York courtroom for a civil trial.
    Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 4 Nov. 2022
  • Penny’s lawyer argued the civil lawsuit was a distraction given that the jury had not even reached a conclusion in the criminal case.
    Kaelan Deese, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 5 Dec. 2024
  • Musk has met with civil-rights leaders about his plan to put a moderation council in charge of establishing policies on hate speech and harassment.
    Heidi Ledford, Scientific American, 8 Nov. 2022
  • The civil suit claims that A.B. believes that Weinberg filmed portions of the encounter without her consent.
    Samuel Braslow, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Nov. 2022
  • Filmmaker Paul Haggis choked up and wiped away tears while finishing his defense Friday from the witness stand against a civil trial rape claim by a publicist.
    Larry Neumeister, USA TODAY, 8 Nov. 2022
  • The Texas Supreme Court is the highest court in the state that rules on civil cases.
    Bethany Blankley | The Center Square Contributor, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 6 Oct. 2024
  • 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
  • Bauer is seeking to use the ruling to get the civil suit the accuser has filed against him thrown out of court.
    Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2022
  • Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long.
    WSJ, 22 Dec. 2023
  • Silva's ex-wife is not named as a defendant in the civil suit.
    Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 11 Mar. 2023
  • The Married to the Mob streetwear founder has also since shared a lengthy statement about her decision to file a civil suit.
    Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 8 Mar. 2024
  • O’Donnell promised that the state would protect him in civil court, Donnelly-Taylor and one of his lawyers have said.
    Brian Amaral, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Jan. 2023
  • Violators would have faced civil penalties and a fine of up to $5,000 by the State Police.
    CBS News, 13 Sep. 2023
  • The noise of democracy is not agreement, isn’t civil, is not a common ground.
    Jasmine Liu, The New Republic, 21 Apr. 2023
  • There is not a full civil trial that is used, for example.
    Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2023
  • The Siglers filed for bankruptcy in 2020 amid the civil court proceedings.
    Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, 26 Dec. 2022
  • That is a job for the civil justice system, the prosecutor said in a press release.
    Morgan Womack, The Indianapolis Star, 10 July 2023
  • But Fred continued to take comfort in the civil suit verdict.
    Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Apr. 2024
  • The court sided with four survivors of the attack who brought a civil suit against the Dutch state for compensation.
    Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 24 Nov. 2022
  • Trump has said the case – and all his criminal and civil cases – are intended to harm his prospects in the 2024 election.
    Aysha Bagchi, USA TODAY, 14 Apr. 2024
  • The former president faces more than a half-a-billion dollars in civil judgements against him in the past month alone.
    Virginia Chamlee, Peoplemag, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Former President Trump is expected to take the stand this week in the civil fraud trial in New York.
    Nbc Universal, NBC News, 5 Nov. 2023
  • But legal experts and civil society groups say the changes don’t go far enough.
    Reuters, NBC News, 5 Dec. 2022
  • Scheffler’s lawyer threatened to file a civil suit against the department.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 3 June 2024
  • In August 2021, a judge in the United States allowed a civil lawsuit brought by Giuffre to proceed.
    Max Taylor, NBC News, 5 May 2023
  • The actor and the film’s other producers still face civil lawsuits, though, including from Solovey.
    Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 Nov. 2024

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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