a person who is not on active duty with a military, naval, police, or fire fighting organization.
Informal. anyone regarded by members of a profession, interest group, society, etc., as not belonging; nonprofessional; outsider: We need a producer to run the movie studio, not some civilian from the business world.
a person versed in or studying Roman or civil law.
adjective
of, pertaining to, formed by, or administered by civilians.
Origin of civilian
1350–1400; Middle English: student of civil law <Old French civilien (adj.); see civil, -ian
So these are databases created in a civilian context, and they’re trying to use them for immigration.
Eight case studies on regulating biometric technology show us a path forward|Karen Hao|September 4, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s former planning minister and opposition MP, says that the proposed CPEC Authority was “superfluous” and weakened the civilian government while ceding even more responsibility to the military.
Pakistan’s Military Plots Takeover of Marquee China Project|Charu Kasturi|August 31, 2020|Ozy
Saudi Arabia has made clear that if Iran moves toward a credible nuclear weapons program, it’ll turn its civilian energy reactors into a bomb-making machine.
Butterfly Effect: The Next Nuclear Race Is Starting|Charu Kasturi|August 6, 2020|Ozy
The first federal involvement in the civilian housing market was one of the first New Deal agencies, the Public Works Administration, that built the first public housing in this country for civilians.
Should America (and FIFA) Pay Reparations? (Ep. 426)|Stephen J. Dubner|July 16, 2020|Freakonomics
The healthier appearance and civilian clothing are very peculiar.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit|Jamie Dettmer|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
We also have a language filled with distaste for the civilian “others.”
A Veteran’s View: NYC Cold War Between Cops and City Hall|Matt Gallagher|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Police have unions, for one, and those unions influence the elections of their civilian leadership.
A Veteran’s View: NYC Cold War Between Cops and City Hall|Matt Gallagher|December 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A civilian corollary was proven when ISIS waterboarded journalist James Foley before beheading him.
The Luxury Homes That Torture and Your Tax Dollars Built|Michael Daly|December 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A civilian commission overruled Beck and rebuked his conclusion.
Worse Than Eric Garner: Cops Who Got Away With Killing Autistic Men and Little Girls|Emily Shire|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But he recognised one of them as having just been paid in by the civilian.
Hard Cash|Charles Reade
She took in his civilian dress, typed it automatically, and came to an erroneous conclusion.
Mercenary|Dallas McCord Reynolds
General Sherman had been great not only as a military leader, but he had been great as a civilian.
Life of Wm. Tecumseh Sherman.|W. Fletcher Johnson
General Sterling Price was a civilian who by natural inclination turned to soldiering.
The Civil War Through the Camera|Henry W. (Henry William) Elson
Like many other German writers, he saw no hostile act on the part of the civilian population, but they came to him as rumours.
What Germany Thinks|Thomas F. A. Smith
British Dictionary definitions for civilian
civilian
/ (sɪˈvɪljən) /
noun
a person whose primary occupation is civil or nonmilitary
(as modifier)civilian life
Word Origin for civilian
C14 (originally: a practitioner of civil law): from civile (from the Latin phrase jūs cīvīle civil law) + -ian