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Civil Disobedience
5 dictionary results for: Civil disobedience
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
civil disobedience
–noun
1.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.
2.(initial capital letters, italics) an essay (1848) by Thoreau.
[Origin: 1865–70]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
civil disobedience  
n.   Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
civil disobedience

noun
a group's refusal to obey a law because they believe the law is immoral (as in protest against discrimination); "Thoreau wrote a famous essay justifying civil disobedience" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
civil disobedience

The refusal to obey a law out of a belief that the law is morally wrong.

Note: In the nineteenth century, the American author Henry David Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience,” an important essay justifying such action.
Note: In the twentieth century, civil disobedience was exercised by Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for independence in India. Civil disobedience, sometimes called nonviolent resistance or passive resistance, was also practiced by some members of the civil rights movement in the United States, notably Martin Luther King, Jr., to challenge segregation of public facilities; a common tactic of these civil rights supporters was the sit-in. King defended the use of civil disobedience in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

[Chapter:] World Politics


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: civil dis·obe·di·ence
Function: noun
: refusal to obey governmental demands or commands esp. as a nonviolent and usually collective means offorcing concessions from the government

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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