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
The language of civil rights will always be most appealing to political minorities in search of procedural arguments to temper or frustrate the will of the majority.
—
Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
The new Supreme Court ruling and the ongoing efforts to reshape how Black history is taught, raises alarms among scholars who study Florida’s civil rights past.
—Miami Herald, 2 May 2026
His father, a World War II veteran who left the sharecropping farm where Blackmon’s grandfather had worked, struggled to find steady work in Mississippi after returning from military service and becoming involved in civil rights organizing.
—ABC News, 2 May 2026
Her work was rooted in advancing civil rights.
—Jessica Alvarado Gamez, Denver Post, 2 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for civil rights
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Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
The new Supreme Court ruling and the ongoing efforts to reshape how Black history is taught, raises alarms among scholars who study Florida’s civil rights past.
—Miami Herald, 2 May 2026
His father, a World War II veteran who left the sharecropping farm where Blackmon’s grandfather had worked, struggled to find steady work in Mississippi after returning from military service and becoming involved in civil rights organizing.
—ABC News, 2 May 2026
Her work was rooted in advancing civil rights.
—Jessica Alvarado Gamez, Denver Post, 2 May 2026
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 4 May. 2026.
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