civil disobedience
the refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy, characterized by the employment of such nonviolent techniques as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes.: Compare noncooperation (def. 2), passive resistance.
(initial capital letters, italics) an essay (1848) by Thoreau.
Origin of civil disobedience
1Words Nearby civil disobedience
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use civil disobedience in a sentence
The stalemate has elicited protests, civil disobedience and arrests on Capitol Hill and beyond.
Michelle Obama and Celebrities Sign Open Letter to Push For Voting Rights | Malaika Jabali | August 26, 2021 | Essence.comI am not for one second suggesting that my swim was some grand act of civil disobedience.
Open-Water Swimming and Other Acts of Civil Disobedience | jversteegh | August 25, 2021 | Outside OnlineThey say they are ready for civil disobedience and will not change any of their programs to comply with the law, which bans the depiction of homosexuality to minors.
The groups said they are prepared to engage in civil disobedience to challenge the law.
As I just mentioned, because this uprising is leaderless the civil disobedience movement will continue until this attempted coup ends.
'The Military Is Terrorizing Us Day and Night.' The Human Rights Activist Documenting Horror in Myanmar | Amy Gunia | March 18, 2021 | Time
Saint Louis City police also spent $325,000 upgrading helmets, sticks and other civil disobedience equipment.
Visitors like Sun have never seen civil disobedience practiced in real life.
Chinese Tourists Are Taking Hong Kong Protest Selfies | Brendon Hong | October 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTShoppers from Mainland China arrived in droves, and gained front row seats to civil disobedience in action.
Chinese Tourists Are Taking Hong Kong Protest Selfies | Brendon Hong | October 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe laid the blame firmly on meddling by foreign powers sowing civil disobedience.
But all Americans practice libertarian civil disobedience already, on their IRS forms.
Up To A Point: My Problem With People Who Agree With Me | P. J. O’Rourke | July 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTBut I have found to my cost that civil disobedience requires far greater preliminary training and self-control.
Freedom's Battle | Mahatma GandhiTrust in our government will end the current civil disobedience.
After the Rain | Sam VakninAs the Congress had not then sanctioned civil disobedience, he did not break that order.
Chitta Ranjan | Sukumar Ranjan DasBoth were trained at civil disobedience through looting their own state and factories.
After the Rain | Sam VakninTherefore those who offer civil disobedience for the sake of establishing Swaraj must know hand-spinning.
The Wheel of Fortune | Mahatma Gandhi
British Dictionary definitions for civil disobedience
a refusal to obey laws, pay taxes, etc: a nonviolent means of protesting or of attempting to achieve political goals
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for civil disobedience (1 of 2)
The refusal to obey a law out of a belief that the law is morally wrong.
Notes for civil disobedience
Notes for civil disobedience
(1849) An essay by Henry David Thoreau. It contains his famous statement “That government is best which governs least,” and asserts that people's obligations to their own conscience take precedence over their obligations to their government. Thoreau also argues that if, in following their conscience, people find it necessary to break the laws of the state, they should be prepared to pay penalties, including imprisonment.
Notes for “Civil Disobedience”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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