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

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

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 10, 2023

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

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