civilize

The idea that the Spanish arrived “to civilize is not one we should share.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026

By the fifth century BCE, some of the larger villages of Macedon grew big enough to be considered cities, and elite Macedonians made efforts to civilize their country in the style of the southern Greeks.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Without dogs, human beings would not have been able to civilize, as they did.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2019

Outdoor summer shows in New York go back to at least 1824, when military bands performed in Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan, part of an initiative to civilize the locals.

From New York Times ● Aug. 9, 2018

"What happened to 'aye'?" "I'm trying to civilize me speech—my speech."

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

We sense early on, from Mortensen’s delicate handling of their courtship, that this isn’t some musty rehash of the trope where she civilizes him and he domesticates her.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024

But there she is, one of the immortal characters of literature, and how can you not fall in love with somebody who civilizes savage people by telling them stories?

From New York Times ● Sep. 4, 2015

Far from revealing our barbarism, fighting civilizes us, Gottschall writes.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 15, 2015

It opened up a discussion about anonymity, pseudonymity and whether using real names civilizes the Internet.

From Forbes ● Oct. 15, 2012

He seized and tamed a continent with a hand of iron; he civilizes and controls it with a touch of velvet.

From Model Speeches for Practise by Grenville Kleiser

“There used to be a pillory in every civilized town,” Pattinson’s Hansen remarks about the state of justice.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

It threatens the U.S., its allies and the civilized world more generally.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

For years, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner has been portrayed as the civilized way to travel to and from San Diego.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

This is a civilized world we live in now.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

The island was known to civilized creatures and would be visited again!

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

Heaney was born with a subject he often resisted, and “Digging” turns away from violence to the civilizing necessity of work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

Smith seems to want to say something about the civilizing influence of women and their survival in a world of unruly and domineering men.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025

The French called this aspect of imperialism “the civilizing mission.”

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

The civilization exported by industrial capitalism was not so civilizing.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2022

Attempts at civilizing her rolled right off her.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor