transitive verb. To raise from barbarism to an enlightened stage of development; bring out of a primitive or savage state.

transitive verb. To educate in matters of culture and refinement; make more polished or sophisticated.

To reclaim from a savage or semi-barbarous state; introduce order and civic organization among; refine and enlighten; elevate in social and individual life.

To make subject to a civil instead of a criminal process.

To place under civil, as opposed to military, control; transfer from military to civil control.

To behave civilly or with propriety.

Also civilise.

transitive verb. To reclaim from a savage state; to instruct in the rules and customs of civilization; to educate; to refine.

transitive verb. To admit as suitable to a civilized state.

verb. Alternative spelling of civilise.

verb. teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment

verb. raise from a barbaric to a civilized state

"It was an idea far ahead of its time, born of a desire not merely to "civilize" a seemingly moribund Muslim world, but to unite East and West, the Baghdad Railway could have fostered not just greater economic integration for European benefit, but an inter-cultural renaissance across Eurasia as well evoking heyday of the great Muslim Empires -- Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal -- that last united these lands into one broad cultural ecumene."