civil rights
plural noun
: rights that citizens are guaranteed by their government through legislation or other government action to ensure equal opportunities (as for employment, education, housing, or voting) and equal protection under the law regardless of personal characteristics such as race, religion, or sex
especially
: the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress
Note: The 13th Amendment (ratified 1865) abolished slavery and the 14th Amendment (ratified 1868) granted citizenship and equal rights to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people and African Americans generally. The 15th Amendment (ratified 1870) guaranteed the right to vote regardless of color or former enslavement.
compare civil liberty see also civil rights movementExamples of civil rights in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Not one civil rights or church group was there.
—
Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
Past raids on similar slums in Brazil have attracted copious criticism from civil rights advocates.
—Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN Money, 28 Oct. 2025
The Hanlons — including wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), a civil rights activist in a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat, and son Will (Blake Cameron James) — are Black (as are Ronnie and her father, seemingly accounting for 100% of Derry’s in-town African American population).
—Robert Lloyd, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Notable inmates once held at the jail include Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, civil rights leader Malcolm X and mobster Whitey Bulger, according to records.
—Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil rights
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Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
Past raids on similar slums in Brazil have attracted copious criticism from civil rights advocates.
—Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN Money, 28 Oct. 2025
The Hanlons — including wife Charlotte (Taylour Paige), a civil rights activist in a Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat, and son Will (Blake Cameron James) — are Black (as are Ronnie and her father, seemingly accounting for 100% of Derry’s in-town African American population).
—Robert Lloyd, Boston Herald, 26 Oct. 2025
Notable inmates once held at the jail include Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, civil rights leader Malcolm X and mobster Whitey Bulger, according to records.
—Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for civil rights
Cite this Entry
“Civil rights.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20rights. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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