Definify.com

Definition 2024


anti-civil

anti-civil

See also: anticivil

English

Adjective

anti-civil (comparative more anti-civil, superlative most anti-civil)

  1. (rare) Uncivil(ised) and in opposition to civil society; opposed to or lacking the features of civil society (for example, opposing or simply lacking civil liberties).
    • 1905-1909, Matthew Arnold, Essays
      [...] to see the Antonines as they really were;—one may concede that the point of view from which Christianity appeared something anti-civil and anti-social, [...]
    • 1971, Gottfried Dietze, In Defense of Property
      [...] then the latter, by definition, can't be civil. They might even be anti-civil or a-civil. They must be incompatible with civilization. But this is simply not the case. As was shown, [...]
    • 2000, Leonhard Praeg, African Philosophy and the Quest for Autonomy: a philosophical investigation
      In the Leviathan, Hobbes could only represent the pre-civil as the anti-civil, as that which lacked in every respect what was considered important in civil society.
    • 2006, Jeffrey C. Alexander, The Civil Sphere
      Jews were not stigmatized simply because they were held to be anti-Christian, but because their Jewish qualities were constructed as dangerous for civil society itself. [...] What was insisted on, above all, was the allegedly anti-civil clannishness of Jews...
    • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:anti-civil.

See also