Why should the leader of the civilizing forces (possibly) worry about anything as puny as a marriage vow?

The Internet is the final civilizing force of this ancient ritual, transforming its anachronistic intimacy into a fully automated cyberexperience.

Judges could then claim that compared with the original African version, American slavery was a benign and civilizing force.

The earliest prototypes were probably dough cooked over an open fire; modern pizzas are still an antidote to the civilizing forces you railed against in early adolescence.

Art as a civilizing and perhaps unifying force was the theme, with music from the Far East, the distant North and Africa, all filtered through Kronos sensibility and creating a we-are-the-world sentiment.

Evangeline Blashfield, who was born in 1858, was a civilized and civilizing force.

Calls law the "civilizing force" for society and sees attorney general as the state's preeminent legal voice.

It's up to arts administrators to convince donors that music, dance and theater performances and exhibitions of paintings, photographs and dinosaur bones are not just enlightening, civilizing forces, but economically crucial ones as well.

He advocated among other things for Europe and Germany to exercise greater influence in the world in the context of a "civilizing force" ("Zivilmacht").