nonmilitary
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: adjective/1
Civilian is the most frequent alternative and refers specifically to people who are not members of the armed forces (for example, civilian casualties during a conflict). Non-military (with a hyphen) is simply a spelling variant of nonmilitary and is used in the same contexts. Civil is much broader: it can describe society, rights, or disputes without implying any contrast with the military — in fact, civil war is military in nature, so the word does not mean nonmilitary. Unmilitary is rare and usually describes behaviour or appearance that does not conform to military standards, not the absence of military involvement. For instance, you would say 'the government sought nonmilitary solutions to the conflict' if you mean alternatives to armed intervention, but 'civilian staff' if the focus is on employees who are not soldiers.
Common collocations
Etymology
Formed in English by adding the prefix non- (meaning 'not') to the word military. Military itself comes from Latin militaris, meaning 'relating to soldiers or warfare', which in turn comes from miles, 'soldier'. The compound nonmilitary has been in use since the early 20th century to describe things that fall outside the domain of armed forces.