CIVIL SERVICE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Civil service

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/sˈɪvəl sˈərvəs/ Listen

adjective

Civil adj.

1.

Pertaining to a city or state, or to a citizen in his relations to his fellow citizens or to the state; within the city or state.

2.

Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; said of the community. "England was very rude and barbarous; for it is but even the other day since England grew civil."

3.

Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; said of an individual. "Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others; they come within a step or two of heaven."

4.

Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable. Note: "A civil man now is one observant of slight external courtesies in the mutual intercourse between man and man; a civil man once was one who fulfilled all the duties and obligations flowing from his position as a 'civis' and his relations to the other members of that 'civitas.'"

5.

Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.

6.

Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.

Civil action, an action to enforce the rights or redress the wrongs of an individual, not involving a criminal proceeding.

Civil architecture, the architecture which is employed in constructing buildings for the purposes of civil life, in distinction from military and naval architecture, as private houses, palaces, churches, etc.

Civil death. (Law.) See under Death.

Civil engineering. See under Engineering.

Civil law. See under Law.

Civil list. See under List.

Civil remedy (Law), that given to a person injured, by action, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.

Civil service, all service rendered to and paid for by the state or nation other than that pertaining to naval or military affairs.

Civil service reform, the substitution of business principles and methods for the spoils system in the conduct of the civil service, esp. in the matter of appointments to office.

Civil state, the whole body of the laity or citizens not included under the military, maritime, and ecclesiastical states.

Civil suit. Same as Civil action.

Civil war. See under War.

Civil year. See under Year.

See images of 'Civil service'

Etymology of 'Civil service'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Civil service" Quotes from Famous Books

... valour beyond words. The Cockney makes the perfect soldier.' I wrote at the time that 'whether the men came from Bermondsey, Camberwell or Kennington, or belonged to what were known as class corps, such as the Civil Service or Kensingtons, before the war, all battalions were equally good. They were trained for months for the big battle till their bodies were brought to such a state of fitness that Spartan fare during the ten days of ceaseless action caused neither grumble nor fatigue. The ...

— How Jerusalem Was Won - Being the Record of Allenby's Campaign in Palestine • W.T. Massey

... young English public school boy, who, though a failure as a rancher, had proved an immense success in the social circles of the city. Because of this, and also of his family connections "at home," he had been appointed to a Civil Service position. A rather bored manner and a supercilious air spoiled what would otherwise have been ...

— The Sky Pilot in No Man's Land • Ralph Connor

... from his boyhood; his name was a power of strength among the warriors of the wilderness. Still more extensive was his influence rendered by the circumstance that he had been much employed in the civil service of the Indian Department under Sir William Johnson, by whom he was often deputed upon embassies among the tribes of the confederacy; and to those yet more distant, upon the great lakes and rivers of the north-west, by reason of which his knowledge of the whole country and people ...

— Canadian Notabilities, Volume 1 • John Charles Dent

... measures, Austria has brought its total public sector deficit down to 2.1% of GDP in 1999 and public debt - at 63.1% of GDP in 1998 - more or less in line with the 60% of GDP required by the EMU's Maastricht criteria. Cuts mainly have affected the civil service and Austria's generous social benefit system, the two major causes of the government's deficit. To meet increased competition from both EU and Central European countries, Austria will need to emphasize knowledge-based ...

— The 2000 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... address upon the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of his native town. He is a resident of Boston, and was a member of the Legislature for 1884, member of the Committee on Education, and reported the bill for free textbooks. He was also member of the Committee on Civil Service, and was active in his efforts to secure the passage of the bill. He is a member of the present Legislature, Chairman of the Committee on the Liquor Law, and of the special committee for a Metropolitan Police for the ...

— The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1 • Various

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