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civilise

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb1.civilise - teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment; "Cultivate your musical taste"; "Train your tastebuds"; "She is well schooled in poetry"
civilize, school, cultivate, educate, train
fine-tune, refine, polish, down - improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing"
sophisticate - make less natural or innocent; "Their manners had sophisticated the young girls"
2.civilise - raise from a barbaric to a civilized state; "The wild child found wandering in the forest was gradually civilized"
civilize
alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue"
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However, this confirmed my first opinion, that a people who could so far civilise brute animals, must needs excel in wisdom all the nations of the world.
Gulliver's Travels by Swift, Jonathan View in context
They gave me an account how many ways they strove to civilise the savages they were with, and to teach them rational customs in the ordinary way of living, but in vain; and how they retorted upon them as unjust that they who came there for assistance and support should attempt to set up for instructors to those that gave them food; intimating, it seems, that none should set up for the instructors of others but those who could live without them.
The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Defoe, Daniel View in context
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