civil defense
noun
: the system of protective measures and emergency relief activities conducted by civilians in case of hostile attack, sabotage, or natural disaster
Examples of civil defense in a Sentence
She's in training to be part of the local civil defense.
the head of civil defense
Recent Examples on the Web
The fighting also decimated the hospital, and the Palestinian civil defense says hundreds of bodies, many of them civilians, are still being recovered in the city, which is sparsely populated these days compared with Rafah.
—
Jane Arraf, NPR, 26 Apr. 2024
The burial area was built when the Israeli military was besieging the Nasser Hospital facility last month, the civil defense said, as people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery.
—NBC News, 22 Apr. 2024
Israeli forces remained in the hospital compound Tuesday, according to Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense.
—Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024
The dataset also included some Palestinian civil defense workers.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
Forty-two municipalities of the 62 in the state were in an emergency situation with more than 300,000 people affected, the civil defense authority told CNN Monday.
—Laura Paddison, CNN, 10 Oct. 2023
The Biden administration’s recent delay of the export of more than 20,000 M-16 rifles intended for Israeli civil defense teams because of U.S. concerns about settler violence in the West Bank could be a harbinger of further impediments.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2023
Roy Navarrete, the director of the state civil defense office, said the crash occurred in the township of Elota, near the port city of Mazatlan, according to The Associated Press.
—USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2024
Local civil defense and hospital officials said seven people were wounded, including two women, one of whom was in critical condition.
—Ammar Cheikh Omar, NBC News, 22 Jan. 2024
Jane Arraf, NPR, 26 Apr. 2024
The burial area was built when the Israeli military was besieging the Nasser Hospital facility last month, the civil defense said, as people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery.
—NBC News, 22 Apr. 2024
Israeli forces remained in the hospital compound Tuesday, according to Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s civil defense.
—Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2024
The dataset also included some Palestinian civil defense workers.
—David Meyer, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
Forty-two municipalities of the 62 in the state were in an emergency situation with more than 300,000 people affected, the civil defense authority told CNN Monday.
—Laura Paddison, CNN, 10 Oct. 2023
The Biden administration’s recent delay of the export of more than 20,000 M-16 rifles intended for Israeli civil defense teams because of U.S. concerns about settler violence in the West Bank could be a harbinger of further impediments.
—Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2023
Roy Navarrete, the director of the state civil defense office, said the crash occurred in the township of Elota, near the port city of Mazatlan, according to The Associated Press.
—USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2024
Local civil defense and hospital officials said seven people were wounded, including two women, one of whom was in critical condition.
—Ammar Cheikh Omar, NBC News, 22 Jan. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'civil defense.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near civil defense
Cite this Entry
“Civil defense.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20defense. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
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