civil rights

plural noun

: rights that citizens are guaranteed by their government through legislation or other government action to ensure equal opportunities (as for employment, education, housing, or voting) and equal protection under the law regardless of personal characteristics such as race, religion, or sex

especially : the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to U.S. citizens by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress

Note: The 13th Amendment (ratified 1865) abolished slavery and the 14th Amendment (ratified 1868) granted citizenship and equal rights to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., including formerly enslaved people and African Americans generally. The 15th Amendment (ratified 1870) guaranteed the right to vote regardless of color or former enslavement.

compare civil liberty see also civil rights movement

Examples of civil rights in a Sentence

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The next hearing on the proposals is scheduled for Feb. 21 at the council’s committee on civil rights and immigration. —

Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2025 Central Valley is home to famed labor organizers and civil rights leaders like her grandmother Dolores Huerta, along with César Chávez. —

Melissa Adan, ABC News, 8 Feb. 2025 Events like the war in Vietnam, the brutal crackdown in the South of protests during the civil rights movement and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Canada strongly opposed, tested that friendship at times. —

Matina Stevis-Gridneff, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2025 The big picture: His outburst drew swift condemnation from Jewish and civil rights groups. —

Russell Contreras, Axios, 7 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for civil rights