civil disobedience
noun
: refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government
Examples of civil disobedience in a Sentence
In an act of civil disobedience, the family sent its tax money to an antiwar organization.
A student organization is encouraging civil disobedience as a way to get the university to change its policies.
Recent Examples on the Web
The civil disobedience draws attention to a federal program credited with saving 25 million lives in over 50 countries.
—
Samantha Riedel, Them, 12 Feb. 2025
That group utilized civil disobedience and other direct activism to prompt changes such as pushing the Food and Drug Administration to accelerate approval of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS.
—Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 12 Oct. 2024
What began last month as peaceful student demonstrations against civil service employment quotas for descendants of the nation’s 1971 war of independence spiraled into a campaign of protest and civil disobedience across the South Asian nation of over 170 million.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 5 Aug. 2024
The most intense protests have occurred in California and Texas along the border and near halls of government, with demonstrations of civil disobedience.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 2 Feb. 2025
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Dictionary Entries Near civil disobedience
Cite this Entry
“Civil disobedience.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/civil%20disobedience. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
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