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

Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s very dark comedy, about an empathy coach trying to civilize an unwoke collection agency, gives its final notice.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2019

"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

It is she who pre-eminently stimulates the voyage, and plants the colony, and establishes the commerce, and civilizes the people.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844 by Various

"Such behavior should not be tolerated in the civilized world," Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo said in a statement, thanking US judicial authorities for "their assistance and protection of our citizens."

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

“The message of this event is that these major corporations, that are the largest and richest corporations in the history of the planet, benefit from our civilized society,” Fish said before the rally.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

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

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

Wilson, the food writer, said that lunch is more civilized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

The pipes symbolized an orderly and civilized world beyond the control of the Nazis.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

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

“They believed that their society was making progress, that it was gaining greater control over nature, that they were becoming more civilized and were civilizing the environment around them,” Golinski said.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 26, 2023

One might guess that the civilizing influence of Boomtown would form the arc of the season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2023

What did “the civilizing mission” of industrialized nations entail?

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

“I placed this young man with you,” she says to me in a terrible quiet voice, “in the hopes that you might provide a civilizing influence. It appears that I was gravely mistaken.”

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline