civil

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Of, relating to, or befitting a citizen or citizens.
• adjective Of or relating to citizens and their interrelations with one another or with the state.
• adjective Of ordinary citizens or ordinary community life as distinguished from the military or the ecclesiastical.
• adjective Sufficiently observing or befitting accepted social usages; polite: synonym: polite.
• adjective Being in accordance with or denoting legally recognized divisions of time.
• adjective Law Relating to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights as distinguished from criminal, military, or international regulations or proceedings.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Pertaining to the state in general; pertaining to organized society as represented by government.
• Specifically, relating to the commonwealth as secularly organized for purposes of peace: opposed to ecclesiastical, military, or naval; relating to the citizen in his relations to the commonwealth as thus organized, or to his fellow-citizens: as, civil rights; or, in particular, relating to property and other rights maintainable in law at the owner's suit: opposed to criminal: as, civil actions, civil courts, civil remedies.
• Reduced to order, rule, and government; not in a condition of anarchy; controlled by a regular administration; exhibiting some refinement of customs and manners; not savage or wild; civilized: as, civil life; civil society.
• Intestine; not foreign: as, civil war.
• Courteous; obliging; well bred; affable; often, merely or formally polite; not discourteous.
• Characteristic of a citizen, as opposed to a courtier, soldier, etc.; not gay or showy; sober; grave; somber.
• More specifically, the municipal law of the Roman empire, the phrase jus civile (civil law) being used in Roman law for those rules and principles of law which were thought to be peculiar to the Roman people, in contradistinction to those which were supposed to be common to all nations (jus gentium). By English and American legal authors civil law is now commonly used to signify the whole system of Roman law, of which the principal source is the collection made by the Emperor Justinian, consisting of the Digest, Code, and Novellæ Constitutiones. Sometimes the term is also applied to the unwritten law of the principal nations of continental Europe, especially of Germany, which is based on the Roman law. Some authors speak in the latter case of modern civil law. The civil law is the basis also of the law of Scotland, Spanish America, Louisiana, and Quebec.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• adjective Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within the city or state.
• adjective Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; -- said of the community.
• adjective Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; -- said of an individual.
• adjective Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable.
• adjective Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
• adjective Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.
• adjective an action to enforce the rights or redress the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal proceeding.
• adjective the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture, as private houses, palaces, churches, etc.
• adjective (Law.) See under Death.
• adjective See under Engineering.
• adjective See under Law.
• adjective See under List.
• adjective (Law) that given to a person injured, by action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.
• adjective all service rendered to and paid for by the state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or military affairs.
• adjective the substitution of business principles and methods for the spoils system in the conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of appointments to office.
• adjective the whole body of the laity or citizens not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states.
• adjective Same as Civil action.
• adjective See under War.
• adjective See under Year.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion.
• adjective Behaving in a reasonable or polite manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective of or occurring within the state or between or among citizens of the state
• adjective (of divisions of time) legally recognized in ordinary affairs of life
• adjective applying to ordinary citizens as contrasted with the military
• adjective of or in a condition of social order
• adjective of or relating to or befitting citizens as individuals
• adjective not rude; marked by satisfactory (or especially minimal) adherence to social usages and sufficient but not noteworthy consideration for others