What's the difference between civil and polite?

Civil


Definition:

  • (a.) 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.
  • (a.) Subject to government; reduced to order; civilized; not barbarous; -- said of the community.
  • (a.) Performing the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; -- said of an individual.
  • (a.) Having the manners of one dwelling in a city, as opposed to those of savages or rustics; polite; courteous; complaisant; affable.
  • (a.) Pertaining to civic life and affairs, in distinction from military, ecclesiastical, or official state.
  • (a.) Relating to rights and remedies sought by action or suit distinct from criminal proceedings.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The new Somali government has enthusiastically embraced the new deal and created a taskforce, bringing together the government, lead donors (the US, UK, EU, Norway and Denmark), the World Bank and civil society.
  • (2) To a supporter at the last election like me – someone who spoke alongside Nick Clegg at the curtain-raiser event for the party conference during the height of Labour's onslaught on civil liberties, and was assured privately by two leaders that the party was onside about civil liberties – this breach of trust and denial of principle is astonishing.
  • (3) The cyclical nature of pyromania has parallels in cycles of reform in standards of civil commitment (Livermore, Malmquist & Meehl, 1958; Dershowitz, 1974), in the use of physical therapies and medications (Tourney, 1967; Mora, 1974), in treatment of the chronically mentally ill (Deutsch, 1949; Morrissey & Goldman, 1984), and in institutional practices (Treffert, 1967; Morrissey, Goldman & Klerman (1980).
  • (4) The law would let people find out if partners had a history of domestic violence but is likely to face objections from civil liberties groups.
  • (5) The Pakistan government, led as usual by a general, was anxious to project the army's role as bringers of order to a country that was sliding quickly towards civil war.
  • (6) Acts like this have no place in our country and in a civilized society,” Lynch said in Washington.
  • (7) Gassmann, whose late father, Vittorio , was a critically acclaimed star of Italian cinema in its heyday in the 1960s, tweeted over the weekend with the hashtag #Romasonoio (I am Rome), calling on the city’s residents to be an example of civility and clean up their own little corners of Rome with pride.
  • (8) However, civil society groups have raised concerns about the ethics of providing ‘climate loans’ which increase the country’s debt burden.
  • (9) The authors are also upfront about what has not gone so well: "We were too slow to mobilise … we did not identify clear leadership or adequate resources for the actions … it is vital to accelerate the programme of civil service reform."
  • (10) Anna Mazzola, a civil liberties lawyer who advises the National Union of Journalists and whom I consulted, told me that in general if police can view anyone's images, they can only do so in "very limited circumstances".
  • (11) Terry Waite Chair, Benedict Birnberg Deputy chair, Antonio Ferrara CEO The Prisons Video Trust • If I want to build a bridge, I call in a firm of civil engineers who specialise in bridge-building.
  • (12) If wide notice is taken of a current spat over what we can read about Shakespeare’s sexuality into the sonnets in the correspondence columns of the Times Literary Supplement, Sonnet 20 may be a future favourite at civil unions.
  • (13) The Dacre review panel, which included Sir Joseph Pilling, a retired senior civil servant, and the historian Prof Sir David Cannadine, said Britain now had one of the "less liberal" regimes in Europe for access to confidential government papers and that reform was needed to restore some trust between politicians and people.
  • (14) But with a civil war raging and no one to protect them, most migrants are at risk of kidnap, extortion and forced labour.
  • (15) The army has said it will deploy troops on the streets on that day, while the president says he may introduce a state of emergency if, as expected, the protests spark widespread civil unrest.
  • (16) I am one of those retired civil servants who has not received my pension.
  • (17) Senior civil servant Simon Case joined the UK’s EU embassy in March to lead work on the new partnership with the bloc, but EU diplomats are unsure how he fits into the picture.
  • (18) On 26 April 1937 this market town was obliterated in three hours of bombing by Nazi planes, allies of Generalísimo Francisco Franco’s fascists in the Spanish civil war.
  • (19) The menace we’re facing – and I say we, because no one is spared – is embodied by the hooded men who are ravaging the cradle of civilization.
  • (20) A Catholic boys’ school has reversed its permission to allow civil rights drama Freeheld, starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as a lesbian couple, to shoot on location in New York State.

Polite


Definition:

  • (v.) Smooth; polished.
  • (v.) Smooth and refined in behavior or manners; well bred; courteous; complaisant; obliging; civil.
  • (v.) Characterized by refinement, or a high degree of finish; as, polite literature.
  • (v. t.) To polish; to refine; to render polite.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Zayani reportedly cited the political sensitivity of naturalising Sunni expatriates and wanted to avoid provoking the opposition," the embassy said.
  • (2) Then a handful of organisers took a major bet on the power of people – calling for the largest climate change mobilisation in history to kick-start political momentum.
  • (3) A diplomatic source said the killing appeared particularly unusual because of Farooq lack of recent political activity: "He was lying low in the past two years.
  • (4) As May delivered her statement in the chamber, police helicopters hovered overhead and a police cordon remained in place around Westminster, but MPs from across the political spectrum were determined to show that they were continuing with business as usual.
  • (5) Anytime they feel parts of the Basic Law are not up to their current standards of political correctness, they will change it and tell Hong Kong courts to obey.
  • (6) I hope this movement will continue and spread for it has within itself the power to stand up to fascism, be victorious in the face of extremism and say no to oppressive political powers everywhere.” Appearing via videolink from Tehran, and joined by London mayor Sadiq Khan and Palme d’Or winner Mike Leigh, Farhadi said: “We are all citizens of the world and I will endeavour to protect and spread this unity.” The London screening of The Salesman on Sunday evening wasintended to be a show of unity and strength against Trump’s travel ban, which attempted to block arrivals in the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
  • (7) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
  • (8) "There is … a risk that the political, trade, and gas frictions with Russia could lead to strong deterioration in economic relations between the two countries, with a significant drop in Ukraine's exports to and imports from Russia.
  • (9) Faisal Abu Shahla, a senior official in Fatah, an organisation responsible for a good deal of repression of its own when it was in power, accuses Hamas of holding 700 political prisoners in Gaza as part of a broad campaign to suppress dissent.
  • (10) Keep it in the ground campaign Though they draw on completely different archives, leaked documents, and interviews with ex-employees, they reach the same damning conclusion: Exxon knew all that there was to know about climate change decades ago, and instead of alerting the rest of us denied the science and obstructed the politics of global warming.
  • (11) If Cory Bernardi wasn’t currently in a period of radio silence as he contemplates his immediate political future he’d be all over this too, mining the Trumpocalypse – or in our domestic context, mining the fertile political fault line where Coalition support intersects with One Nation support.
  • (12) But Howard added that it may take a while and he is not confident the political reality will change.
  • (13) The size of Florida makes the kind of face-to-face politics of the earlier contests impossible, requiring instead huge ad spending.
  • (14) Nor is this political fantasy: at the European elections in May, across 51 authorities in the north-west and north-east, Ukip finished ahead of Labour in 18 and as its main rival in 30.
  • (15) Speaking to pro-market thinktank Reform, Milburn called for “more competition” and said the shadow health team were making a “fundamental political misjudgment” by attempting to roll back policies he had overseen.
  • (16) Just before Christmas the independent Kerslake report severely criticised Birmingham city council for its dysfunctional politics and, in particular, its handling of the so-called Trojan Horse affair, in which school governors were said to have set out to bring about an Islamic agenda into the curriculum contents and the day-to-day running of some schools.
  • (17) Ukip and the Greens are beneficiaries of this new political reality – as, arguably, is the SNP as it prepares to invade Labour’s heartland in Scotland next May.
  • (18) To safeguard its long-time regional ally, Iran gave full political, economic and military backing to the embattled Syrian president.
  • (19) What’s needed is manifesto commitments from all the main political parties to improve the help single homeless people are legally entitled to.
  • (20) Cameron, who faces intense political pressure from the UK Independence party in the runup to the 2014 European parliamentary elections, believes voters will need to be consulted if the EU agrees a major treaty revision in the next few years.