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civilities

noun

plural of civility
as in courtesies
an act or utterance that is a customary show of good manners after the usual civilities, the parents and the principal had a serious talk about the boy

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for civilities
  1. courtesies
  2. gestures
Noun
  • Small courtesies keep big efforts moving forward.
    — Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 15 Mar. 2026
  • With both courtesies and catastrophes refusing to conform, the canton’s school board, publishers, and clergy were forced to produce multiple editions of primers, textbooks, and catechisms; sometimes five parallel print runs were needed for a population the size of a town.
    — Simon Akam, New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2025
Definition of courtesies
Noun
  • These have never been simply styles, but responses to conditions that demanded other forms, other gestures, other ways of seeing and saying.
    — Alessia Glaviano, Vogue, 4 Sep. 2026
  • If physical gestures serve our relatives just fine, why did our own branch of the family tree gradually favor biological changes in our brains and anatomy that permitted our characteristic complexities in language and precision in speech?
    — Mike McRae September 02, New Atlas, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of gestures
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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civilians
civilities
civility
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Cite this Entry

“Civilities.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/civilities. Accessed 16 Sep. 2026.

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