civilizing

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Colonialism, once equated by the West with civilizing progress, became synonymous with iniquity.

From New York Times • Dec. 10, 2023

“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

Without the civilizing influence of true love, the widower returns to his roots, teaching Brooke how to track, shoot and lie.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 13, 2023

“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