civilisation

Borrowed from French civilisation, equivalent to civilise +‎ -ation or civil +‎ -isation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ɪ.lɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

civilisation (countable and uncountable, plural civilisations)

1. UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Commonwealth spelling of civilization.
   • 1960 January, G. Freeman Allen, “"Condor"—British Railways' fastest freight train”, in Trains Illustrated, page 48:

     From Keighley onwards we had obviously returned to civilisation, for the surrounding country was now studded with the sodium street lights of suburbia and a thickening industrial haze was blotting out the moon.

   • 2026 January 21, David Smith, “Trump paints himself as great white hope in racism-drenched Davos speech”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 February 2026:

     It is also there in Miller’s worldview, which has long promoted racist fears of demographic replacement of white people and civilisation decline.

From French civilisation.

civilisation c (singular definite civilisationen, plural indefinite civilisationer)

1. civilization

• civilisationskritik

• civilisere

• “civilisation” in Den Danske Ordbog

From civiliser +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /si.vi.li.za.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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civilisation f (plural civilisations)

1. civilization

• civilisationnel

• → English: civilization
• → German: Zivilisation

• culture

• “civilisation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• Audio:

  (file)

civilisation c

1. civilization

• civilisationskritik
• civilisationskritiker

• civilisera
• civiliserad

• “civilisation”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “civilisation”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “civilisation”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)