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 movementExamples of civil rights in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The administration previously reached settlement agreements with Columbia and Brown to resolve civil rights investigations and restore their federal research funding.
—
Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Hostin brought up that Behar lived through other difficult periods in the country, including the civil rights movement.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Sep. 2025
The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) over its employment practices, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.
—Michelle Watson, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025
Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a detainee who was shot at in an Immigration and Customs Facility in Dallas last week, died on Tuesday, his family and a spokesperson for Hispanic civil rights group LULAC announced.
—Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR, 30 Sep. 2025
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Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
Hostin brought up that Behar lived through other difficult periods in the country, including the civil rights movement.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Sep. 2025
The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) over its employment practices, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.
—Michelle Watson, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 2025
Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a detainee who was shot at in an Immigration and Customs Facility in Dallas last week, died on Tuesday, his family and a spokesperson for Hispanic civil rights group LULAC announced.
—Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR, 30 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil rights
Cite this Entry
“Civil rights.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20rights. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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