culture

noun cul·ture \ ˈkəl-chər \

|Updated on: 15 Jul 2018

Definition of culture

1 a : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time

popular culture

Southern culture

b : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization

a corporate culture focused on the bottom line

c : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic

studying the effect of computers on print culture

Changing the culture of materialism will take time …
—Peggy O'Mara

d : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

2 a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training

b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

a person of culture

3 : the act or process of cultivating living material (such as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media; also : a product of such cultivation

4 : cultivation, tillage

We ought to blame the culture, not the soil.
—Alexander Pope

5 : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education

6 : expert care and training

beauty culture

See culture defined for English-language learners

See culture defined for kids

Examples of culture in a Sentence

In this new view, genes allow the human mind to learn, remember, imitate, imprint language, absorb culture and express instincts. —Matt Ridley, Time, 2 June 2003
Such an explanation seems sensible to a technologically advanced and ruthlessly competitive culture like our own, where anybody who fails to get at least a college degree … risks spending a life busing tables or telemarketing. —Natalie Angier, New York Times, 2 July 2002
There is an Arctic Indian tribe, the Gwich'in—the northernmost Indians in the United States—who base their diet and culture on the caribou. —Jimmy Carter, National Geographic Traveler, October 2001
Underlying the question "Is this as good as it gets?" was a female j'accuse—against a consumer culture where values like caring had been severely discounted. —Susan Faludi, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2001
a study of Greek language and culture
Her art shows the influence of pop culture.
It's important to learn about other cultures.
The company's corporate culture is focused on increasing profits.
an area that has been criticized for its lack of culture

Recent Examples of culture from the Web

The list of famous middle children includes figures as diverse as Warren Buffett and Jennifer Lopez, but for the most part, middles are reliably cast in the culture as oddballs, outcasts, and misfits.

— adam sternbergh, The Cut, "The Extinction of the Middle Child," 11 July 2018
Celebrate barbecue and country music at Windy City Smokeout, Chinese culture at Chinatown Summer Fair and tap and percussive dance at Rhythm World this week in Chicago.

— hannah steinkopf-frank, RedEye Chicago, "Chicago festivals this week: Southport Arts Festival, Chinatown Summer Fair, Rhythm World," 11 July 2018
Braiding, particularly in cultures with a strong African influence, is a tradition that goes back for generations.

— Allure, "25 Gorgeous Black Braided Hairstyles That Will Inspire Your Next Look," 10 July 2018
Reared in New York's indelicate political culture, Trump does not like to appear meek, using rallies and his Twitter account to lacerate rivals.

— author: paul schwartzman, josh dawsey, Anchorage Daily News, "'Viciousness': Trump aides endure public fury toward president's policies," 9 July 2018
Some of President Trump’s strongest support comes from evangelicals who believe their rights are under assault in modern American culture.

— cathy young, BostonGlobe.com, "Is liberal democracy failing? No, it’s a victim of its own success," 8 July 2018
And that’s actually an interesting point, and this happens a lot in culture, too.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full transcript: Fog Creek Software CEO Anil Dash answers all the questions on Too Embarrassed to Ask," 8 July 2018
Which is also to say that the norms that were litigated at Fox in 2017—and the norms that are being litigated in American culture at large at the moment, by way of the #MeToo movement—are being performatively ignored by the White House.

— megan garber, The Atlantic, "When the White House Is a Safe Space," 6 July 2018
Voodoo has negative connotations in Western culture — but was primarily used for healing, good luck, and love as described throughout the tiny voodoo museum where these trinkets were sold.

— scott heller, New York Times, "Sightseeing for History (With a Few Selfies Along the Way)," 6 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'culture.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of culture

Middle English, cultivated land, cultivation, from Anglo-French, from Latin cultura, from cultus, past participle — see cult

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 4

See Words from the same year

culture Synonyms

Other Agriculture/Gardening Terms

fallow, graft, heirloom, loam, potash, soilage, swath, tilth, windfall

culture

verb

Definition of culture

cultured; culturing play \ˈkəlch-riŋ, ˈkəl-chə-\

transitive verb

1 : cultivate

2 a : to grow in a prepared medium

culture microorganisms

b : to start a culture from (see ¹culture 3)

culture soil

See culture defined for English-language learners

Examples of culture in a Sentence

The virus is cultured in the laboratory from samples of infected tissue.
culture bacteria in laboratory dishes

Recent Examples of culture from the Web

The center includes cell culturing equipment to grow lung cells from patients, to be used for drug screening.

— bradley j. fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Vertex Pharmaceuticals opens expanded San Diego research center with focus on cystic fibrosis," 18 June 2018
There’s some confusion over how meat grown by culturing animal cells will be regulated.

— Washington Post, "Meat 2.0? Clean meat? Spat shows the power of food wording," 19 June 2018
Thanks to a streamlined hormonal regimen and a simplified device for culturing embryos, an IVF cycle at ABC costs just £2,500, including all tests, medicines, and doctor visits.

— anna louie sussman, Bloomberg.com, "Falling Birthrates Call for More Accessible Fertility Treatment," 18 June 2018
They are being used to tackle the sorts of experiments that people once thought would occur on the ISS, including testing artificial gravity or culturing cells and growing protein crystals.

— konstantin kakaes, Vox, "NASA’s leader wants to privatize the International Space Station. It’s a remarkably terrible idea.," 8 June 2018
The company cultures cord-blood stem cells in nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3, for three weeks before transplant.

— ron winslow, WSJ, "New Promise for Bone-Marrow Transplants," 28 May 2018
While its lenses were not necessarily more reliable than instruments produced by competitors in England and France, Zeiss’s advertising cultured a belief in the value of standardization for lens quality.

— allain daigle, The Atlantic, "How the 50-mm Lens Became ‘Normal’," 13 May 2018
Samples are cultured from the swabs taken from the patients' penises.

— sophie cousins, CNN, "Wherever you are in the world, time is running out for treating gonorrhea," 15 May 2018
Pluripotent stem cells are cultured under conditions that promote formation of specific cell types.

— diana gitig, Ars Technica, "Human brain cells can make complex structures in a dish—is this a problem?," 28 Apr. 2018

Origin and Etymology of culture

see ¹culture

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1510

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

culture Synonyms

Synonyms

crop, cultivate, dress, grow, promote, raise, rear, tend;

Near Antonyms

kill;

dig, extirpate, pick, pluck, pull (up), uproot;

cut, hay, mow;

Related Words

breed, produce, propagate;

plant, sow;

gather, glean, harvest, reap;

germinate, quicken, ripen, root, sprout;

Other Biology Terms

autochthonous, fecund, homunculus, phylogeny, substrate

CULTURE Defined for English Language Learners

culture

noun

Definition of culture for English Language Learners

: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time
: a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc.
: a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization (such as a business)

culture

verb

Definition of culture for English Language Learners

: to grow (something) in controlled conditions

CULTURE Defined for Kids

culture

noun cul·ture \ ˈkəl-chər \

Definition of culture for Students

1 : cultivation 1

2 : the raising or development (as of a crop or product) by careful attention

grape culture

3 : the appreciation and knowledge of the arts (as music, dance, and painting)

4 : the habits, beliefs, and traditions of a particular people, place, or time

Greek culture

Medical Dictionary

culture

noun cul·ture \ ˈkəl-chər \

medical Definition of culture

1 a : the integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts and depends upon the human capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations

b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group

2 a : the act or process of growing living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media

b : a product of cultivation in nutrient media

—