Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

incivility

/ɪnsɪˈvɪlɪti/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.10 in modern English

Syllables: in-ci-vil-i-ty
IPA: /ɪnsɪˈvɪlɪti/

18

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

5

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The state of being uncivil; lack of courtesy; rudeness in manner.

Uncountable

noun

Any act of rudeness or ill-breeding.

Countable

noun

Lack of civilization; a state of rudeness or barbarism.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Courtezan. How say you now? is not your husband mad? / Adriana. His incivility confirms no less."
"1668, David Lloyd, Memoires of the Lives, Actions, Sufferings, and Deaths of those Noble, Reverend, and Excellent Personages that suffered by Death, Sequestration, Decimation, and otherwise for the Protestant Religion, London: Samuel Speed, “The Life and Death of Robert Berkley,” p. 96, Beat on proud Billows, Boreas blow, Swell curled Waves, high as Jove’s roof, Your incivility doth show, That Innocence is tempest proof."
"Little did Mr. Willoughby imagine, I suppose, when his looks censured me for incivility in breaking up the party, that I was called away to the relief of one whom he had made poor and miserable […]"
"[S]he could not bear incivility to her guests, to young men in particular, […]"
"Latona, in her flight from Juno, is churlishly intreated by the Lycian pesants, and denied the publique benefit of water: for which incivility these bawling Clownes are changed into croaking froggs, and confined unto that Lake for ever."
"In truth, vve thought it (coming immediately from an infected place) an hazardous incivilitie, to put our ſelves upon them; for if any ſiniſter accident had fallen out about the ſame time (for Coincidents are not alvvaies Cauſes) vve ſhould have rued it for ever."

Etymology

From Middle French incivilité, from Late Latin incivilitas (“incivility”), from Latin incivilis (“impolite, uncivil”), from in- (privative prefix) + civilis (“belonging to a citizen, civic, political, urbane, courteous, civil”) (from civis (“a citizen”)), equivalent to in- + civility.

Origin

Source language: Middle French

Word Breakdown

Prefix: in
Root: incivilité, incivilitas, incivilis

Usage

Inflected Forms

incivilities (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

incivil discourtesy disrespect impoliteness rudeness uncourteousness unmannerliness

Synonyms

impoliteness

Rhymes With

facility stability disability liability inability credibility visibility sustainability eligibility instability vulnerability humility

Questions

How do you pronounce incivility?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɪnsɪˈvɪlɪti/.
What does incivility mean?: The state of being uncivil; lack of courtesy; rudeness in manner.
Where does incivility come from?: It is traced to Middle French.

How to pronounce incivility

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