civilian

«civilian» in Mova's school dictionary: not in the army, navy, air force or police — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a civilian, civilians); adjective (civilian)

meaning for a pupil

1) A person who is not in the army, navy, air force or police. tree →

2) (adjective) To do with ordinary people rather than soldiers: civilian clothes, civilian life. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons on wars, civilians are the ordinary people (children, families) affected by fighting, bombing and evacuation. In stories a soldier returning to "civilian life" goes back to ordinary life. Phrases: civilian casualties, civilian clothes, return to civilian life.

examples

• Many civilians were evacuated from the cities during the war. tree →
• The soldier changed into civilian clothes. tree →
• After the army, Grandad went back to civilian life. tree →
• Rules of war say civilians must be protected. tree →
• The police officer was off duty and dressed as a civilian. tree →
• Civilian planes carry passengers, not weapons. tree →

note

Countable. It is the opposite of "military" or "soldier". Related to civil and citizen.

In the corpora

• "Soft target" means unprotected people or places, often ordinary civilians (people who are not soldiers).
• Unlike a playground scrap, many ordinary people, called civilians, lose their homes, their safety or their lives.
• A war is armed fighting between countries or large armed groups; civilians are ordinary people who are not soldiers.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «civilian» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.