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What is "civil disobedience"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
civil disobedience
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Do we intend to commit civil disobedience?
▪ If he fasted, he was released from jail; if he attempted civil disobedience, he was back in again.
▪ In Pittsburgh, there were a few sit-ins, invasions of churches, minor civil disobedience.
▪ It had to be a battle in which his side would fight with a special kind of weapon: civil disobedience.
▪ Non-cooperation and civil disobedience, as Gandhi understands them, can not be construed as a coercive threat in this sense.
▪ Nothing in their training or previous experience had accustomed them to this kind of civil disobedience.
▪ That there are risks associated with civil disobedience no one would deny, and among them is the risk of anarchy.
▪ Would he desist from civil disobedience if he were convinced?
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
civil disobedience

coined 1866 by Thoreau as title of an essay originally published (1849) as "Resistance to Civil Government."

Wiktionary
civil disobedience

n. A form of social protest, involving the active but non-violent refusal to obey certain laws, demands, or commands of an established authority, because they are considered to be morally wrong or detrimental.

WordNet
civil disobedience

n. 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"

Wikipedia
Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is a symbolic or ritualistic violation of the law, rather than a rejection of the system as a whole. Civil disobedience is sometimes, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance.

Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)

Resistance to Civil Government'' (Civil Disobedience'') is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).

Civil disobedience (disambiguation)

Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power, usually without resorting to physical violence.

Civil disobedience may also refer to:

  • Civil Disobedience (Thoreau), an essay by Henry David Thoreau, published in 1849
  • Civil disobedience movement, Salt Satyagraha, led by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement
  • Civil Disobedience (album), a 2008 album by electro-industrial musical project Leæther Strip
  • "Civil Disobedience," a song by Camper Van Beethoven from their album New Roman Times
Civil Disobedience (album)

Civil Disobedience is the eleventh studio album by Danish electro-industrial musical project Leæther Strip.

The limited release of the album included the bonus CD One Nine Eight Two.

Usage examples of "civil disobedience".

As Klein said at the time, Dick proposes that the blowing up of the established order -- by civil disobedience, for example -- could only check their power.

But law enforcement officials had seen the civil disobedience trap being laid for them, and agreed among themselves to leave the 'broomstick brigade' unmolested.

All that's left to deal with now are scattered instances of civil disobedience and terrorism.

Opposed authority by means of an ingenious system called Civil Disobedience.

Since floods and civil disobedience go together in India, we were all agreed that those who had been dispossessed by the river had suddenly attacked the palace.