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Recent Examples of civilize
If Providence gave Americans the right to civilize a continent, why not the world?
—
Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Practically speaking, if your checklist is mostly phones and a CPAP, a mid-size electric battery station is civilized: quiet, indoor-safe and instantly useful.
—Jennifer Jolly, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
In this view, other European immigrants were unsuitable for civilizing the frontier—Southern Europeans were effete and decadent while Eastern European Jews were hapless in the woods and better-suited to urban, commercial spaces.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 5 June 2025
Colonial empires were founded upon understandings of racial hierarchy and civilizing missions.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 26 Mar. 2021
See All Example Sentences for civilize
Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
Practically speaking, if your checklist is mostly phones and a CPAP, a mid-size electric battery station is civilized: quiet, indoor-safe and instantly useful.
—Jennifer Jolly, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025
In this view, other European immigrants were unsuitable for civilizing the frontier—Southern Europeans were effete and decadent while Eastern European Jews were hapless in the woods and better-suited to urban, commercial spaces.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 5 June 2025
Colonial empires were founded upon understandings of racial hierarchy and civilizing missions.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 26 Mar. 2021
See All Example Sentences for civilize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for civilize
Verb
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Taubel believes some of the supply problems have eased as early cultivator licensees' initial plants have fully grown and are cultivated.—
Caroline Cummings,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
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Reviving that legacy would mean cultivating a new trust in government—such that an official knock at the door might be expected to herald something good as opposed to a masked federal agent.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Land to farm and urbanize Another concern for foreign investors: the obstacles to acquiring land for urban development.—
Sarah Moreno
Updated March 24,
Miami Herald,
24 Mar. 2026
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If appropriate action is not taken, economic growth in urbanizing cities will continue to happen at the cost of the less fortunate.—
Chloe Wong,
Hartford Courant,
16 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Civilize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/civilize. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.
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