civil rights

plural noun

: rights that citizens are guaranteed by their government through legislation or other government action to ensure equal opportunities (as for employment, education, housing, or voting) and equal protection under the law regardless of personal characteristics such as race, religion, or sex

especially : the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress

Note: The 13th Amendment (ratified 1865) abolished slavery and the 14th Amendment (ratified 1868) granted citizenship and equal rights to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people and African Americans generally. The 15th Amendment (ratified 1870) guaranteed the right to vote regardless of color or former enslavement.

compare civil liberty see also civil rights movement

Examples of civil rights in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Saetern’s parents, represented by longtime civil rights attorney Mark Merin, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Elk Grove and its police department in September 2025. — Theresa Clift, Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026

Vamos a Votar, an initiative of the largest civil rights and advocacy groups focused on Latino communities, has had to readjust its ambitions this year due to a lack of investment from funders. — Matt Brown, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026

More people participated in demonstrations than in 2003 (against the invasion of Iraq) or 1999 (against globalization) or 1968 (against the Vietnam War, for civil rights, and so on). — Rachel Nolan, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026

After a group of civil rights groups sued Cooper’s gubernatorial administration in 2020 over COVID-19 infection risks, a North Carolina Superior Court judge ordered the two sides to reach an agreement. — Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 18 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see civil

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for civil rights

• acolytes
• ammonites
• amorites
• analytes
• andesites
• appetites
• argillites
• astrocytes
• belemnites
• bryophytes
• canaanites
• carmelites

Kids Definition

civil rights

plural noun

: the nonpolitical rights of a citizen

especially : the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress