student asking question

What does "civilized" mean? Something noble?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Here, "civilised" means to be polite or well-mannered. It can also mean to act natural or normal. He's saying that we should consider other people and be nice to them. But it's ironic because shouting in a public space is considered uncivilised. Ex: Please, act civilised at the dinner tonight, children. Don't cause any problems. Ex: Stop fighting now. Let's deal with this in a civilised manner.

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