CIVILISATION

 Dictionary entry overview: What does civilisation mean? 

• CIVILISATION (noun)
  The noun CIVILISATION has 4 senses:

1. the social process whereby societies achieve civilization
2. a particular society at a particular time and place
3. a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)
4. the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

  Familiarity information: CIVILISATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CIVILISATION (noun)

Meaning:

The social process whereby societies achieve civilization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

social process (a process involved in the formation of groups of persons)

Meaning:

A particular society at a particular time and place

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

culture; civilisation; civilization

Context example:

early Mayan civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

society (an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization)

Meronyms (parts of "civilisation"):

subculture (a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs)

Domain category:

archaeology; archeology (the branch of anthropology that studies prehistoric people and their cultures)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "civilisation"):

Aegean civilisation; Aegean civilization; Aegean culture (the prehistoric civilization on the islands in the Aegean sea and the surrounding countries)

Helladic civilisation; Helladic civilization; Helladic culture (the bronze-age culture of mainland Greece that flourished 2500-1100 BC)

Indus civilization (the bronze-age culture of the Indus valley that flourished from about 2600-1750 BC)

Minoan civilisation; Minoan civilization; Minoan culture (the bronze-age culture of Crete that flourished 3000-1100 BC)

Mycenaean civilisation; Mycenaean civilization; Mycenaean culture (the late bronze-age culture of Mycenae that flourished 1400-1100 BC)

Paleo-American culture; Paleo-Amerind culture; Paleo-Indian culture (the prehistoric culture of the earliest human inhabitants of North America and South America)

Western civilization; Western culture (the modern culture of western Europe and North America)

Meaning:

A society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

civilization; civilisation

Context example:

the people slowly progressed from barbarism to civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

society (an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization)

Domain category:

government; political science; politics (the study of government of states and other political units)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "civilisation"):

Islam; Muslimism (the civilization of Muslims collectively which is governed by the Muslim religion)

Meaning:

The quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

civilisation; civilization; refinement

Context examples:

a man of intellectual refinement / he is remembered for his generosity and civilization

Hypernyms ("civilisation" is a kind of...):

excellence (the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree)