civil right
Other forms: civil rights
A civil right is a right to freedom and equality that's guaranteed to every citizen. Your civil rights protect you against discrimination.
In the United States, individuals have the right to free speech, privacy, religious freedom, and many others, no matter their race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation — these are civil rights. When an employer refuses to hire someone because she's a woman or a landlord won't rent an apartment to a family because of their religious beliefs, it's a violation of their civil rights. The mid-20th century Civil Rights Movement was an organized fight to ensure the civil rights of African Americans.
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right or rights belonging to a person by reason of citizenship including especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th amendments and subsequent acts of Congress including the right to legal and social and economic equalitytypes:civil libertyfundamental individual right protected by law and expressed as immunity from unwarranted governmental interferencehabeas corpusthe civil right to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as protection against illegal imprisonmentfreedom of religiona civil right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitutionfree speech, freedom of speechthe right to express your ideas and opinions, a right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitutionfreedom of the pressa right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitutionfreedom of assemblythe right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances; guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitutionfreedom to bear armsa right guaranteed by the 2nd amendment to the US Constitutionfreedom from search and seizurea right guaranteed by the 4th amendment to the US Constitutionright to due processa right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution; reaffirmed by the Fourteenth Amendmentfreedom from self-incrimination, privilege against self incriminationthe civil right (guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution) to refuse to answer questions or otherwise give testimony against yourselffreedom from double jeopardya civil right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitutionright to speedy and public trial by jurya civil right guaranteed by the 6th amendment to the US Constitutionright to an attorneya civil right guaranteed by the 6th amendment to the US Constitutionright to confront accusorsa right guaranteed by the 6th amendment to the US Constitutionfreedom from cruel and unusual punishmenta right guaranteed by the 8th amendment to the US Constitutionfreedom from involuntary servitudea civil right guaranteed by the 13th amendment to the US Constitutionequal protection of the lawsa right guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and by the due-process clause of the Fifth Amendmentfreedom from discriminationimmunity from discrimination on the basis of race or sex or nationality or religion or age; guaranteed by federal laws of the United Statesequal opportunitythe right to equivalent opportunities for employment regardless of race or color or sex or national origintype of:human right(law) any basic right or freedom to which all human beings are entitled and in whose exercise a government may not interfere (including rights to life and liberty as well as freedom of thought and expression and equality before the law)
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Vocabulary lists containing civil right
When the Watson family pays Grandma a visit in Alabama, they find themselves caught up in the battle for civil rights.
George Dawson, who lived from 1898 to 2001 and learned to read at the age of 98, reflects on the life lessons he learned over the course of the 20th century.
Courageous and determined, teenager Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus and became a plaintiff in a landmark civil rights case. This nonfiction account celebrates an often unacknowledged American heroine.