Careful Words

civil (adj.)

From hence, let fierce contending nations know

What dire effects from civil discord flow.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act v. Sc. 4.

So over violent, or over civil,

That every man with him was God or Devil.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Absalom and Achitophel. Part i. Line 557.

The rude sea grew civil at her song,

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres

To hear the sea-maid's music.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): A Midsummer Night's Dream. Act ii. Sc. 1.

  He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.

  Too civil by half.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): The Rivals. Act iii. Sc. 4.