civilian

[ si-vil-yuh n ]
/ sɪˈvɪl yən /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR civilian ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

OTHER WORDS FROM civilian

an·ti·ci·vil·ian, adjective non·ci·vil·ian, noun pro·ci·vil·ian, adjective

Words nearby civilian

civil service, civil society, civil tongue, civil war, civil year, civilian, civilian clothes, civilian conservation corps, civilian review board, civilianize, civility

Words related to civilian

private, citizen, noncombatant, commoner, subject

Example sentences from the Web for civilian

British Dictionary definitions for civilian

civilian
/ (sɪˈvɪljən) /

noun

  1. a person whose primary occupation is civil or nonmilitary
  2. (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