civil disobedience

noun

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

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 on the Web

But a new book shows how corporations successfully staged their own freedom movement by employing tactics associated with civil rights struggles: civil disobedience, test court cases and portraying themselves as victims of political persecution. — John Blake, CNN, "How corporations won their own civil rights movement," 22 May 2018 About 600 women were arrested on Thursday during a nonviolent civil disobedience action organized by the Women’s March in partnership with Center for Popular Democracy Action and CASA in Action. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "Families Belong Together protest planned for Washington, DC, and hundreds of other cities," 29 June 2018 The act of nonviolent civil disobedience, organized by the Women’s March, started at the DoJ, where women blockaded the building’s entrance during the lunch hour. — Amanda Arnold, The Cut, "Capitol Police Arrest More Than 600 Women Chanting ‘Abolish ICE’," 28 June 2018 Pashinian immediately called for mass acts of nonviolent, civil disobedience across the city. — Sabra Ayres, latimes.com, "Armenia contemplates the unlikely: a nonviolent revolution on the cusp of victory," 8 May 2018 There were calls for civil disobedience and concerns about America slipping toward dictatorship. — Shane Goldmacher, New York Times, "Schumer Misses Town Hall in Brooklyn, but Still Feels the Heat," 3 July 2018 But if Lukensmeyer is right, then one of the challenges of any attempt to spread civility far and wide will be in maintaining the critical distinction between civil disobedience and incivility. — Nestor Ramos, BostonGlobe.com, "A year ago I wrote about a national push for civility. So, how’s that going?," 28 June 2018 Women's March urged supporters to register online to join the June 28 civil disobedience at www.endfamilyseparation.us. — Kristen Jordan Shamus, Detroit Free Press, "Trump's executive order won't stop immigration protests in Michigan, D.C.," 20 June 2018 For 40 days, demonstrators planned to hold acts of civil disobedience like blocking traffic and refusing to leave public buildings every Monday nationwide. — Washington Post, "AP Explains: Rebooting Poor People’s Campaign 50 years later," 15 June 2018

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.