Definition of civil disobedience
: refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government
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Examples of civil disobedience in a Sentence
In an act of civil disobedience, the family sent its tax money to an antiwar organization.
A student organization is encouraging civil disobedience as a way to get the university to change its policies.
Recent Examples of civil disobedience from the Web
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Some of our authors examine possible responses to laws that cannot be obeyed by conscientious citizens—ranging from noncompliance to resistance to civil disobedience to morally justified revolution.
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In terms of people arrested, the numbers increased from 251 arrests in August to 533 in September, with at least 262 (about 49 percent) of those September arrests coming in 26 cases of nonviolent civil disobedience.
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Some independence supporters have promised a campaign of civil disobedience.
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Weeks of civil disobedience in Catalonia probably lie ahead.
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That could possibly kick off days or weeks of civil disobedience.
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Moderates want Mr Puigdemont to call a fresh regional election; radicals want a formal declaration of independence backed by a campaign of civil disobedience.
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There’s a rich intellectual strain that argues that acts of civil disobedience, like tearing down statues that commemorate treasonous, white supremacist revolts against the United States government, deserve lenience.
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Kendrick Lamar is close enough to Watts in proximity to understand its despair, close enough to the civil disobedience of the 1992 riots to understand their rage, to understand that there is no exit.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'civil disobedience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of civil disobedience
1866
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE Defined for English Language Learners
civil disobedience
Definition of civil disobedience for English Language Learners
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: refusal to obey laws as a way of forcing the government to do or change something
Law Dictionary
civil disobedience
noun
civil dis·obe·di·ence
legal Definition of civil disobedience
: refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government
Learn More about civil disobedience
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about civil disobedience
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