civilize

He will attempt to civilize them, and they will soften him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 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

Pernicious weed! whose scent the fair annoys, Unfriendly to society's chief joys, Thy worst effect is banishing for hours The sex whose presence civilizes ours.

From Pipe and Pouch The Smoker's Own Book of Poetry 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

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

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

The miracle everyone pulls off is making a poisonous relationship dryly hilarious, even if every civilized exchange eventually becomes a figurative frying pan flying through the air.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

This is a civilized world we live in now.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

At present neither infant mortality nor the birthrate runs high in the civilized areas of Gethen.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

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

“Never darken my door again!” he thunders old-fashionedly, as though he’s subconsciously aware that the writers Kirsi Vikman and Jimmy Karlsson are drawing on centuries of love stories about savage men and civilizing women.

From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2023

He cited Philippine national hero Jose Rizal’s description of justice “as the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It subdues the barbarous nations while injustice arouses the weakest.”

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2023

Mrs. Randall had passed many years before, and it was Alice’s thought that a woman would be a civilizing presence on the plantation.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead