culture

1 of 2

noun

cul·​ture ˈkəl-chər How to pronounce culture (audio)
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

culture

2 of 2

verb

cultured; culturing ˈkəlch-riŋ How to pronounce culture (audio)
ˈkəl-chə-

transitive verb

1
2
a
: to grow in a prepared medium
culture microorganisms
b
: to start a culture from (see culture entry 1 sense 3)
culture soil

Examples of culture in a Sentence

Noun 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
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 Verb The virus is cultured in the laboratory from samples of infected tissue. culture bacteria in laboratory dishes
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com. Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press, 11 Mar. 2024 With a portion of the film made in embroidery inspired by Gujarati textiles, the project aims to this aspect of Indian culture to the world. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024 And yet, perhaps inevitably, the movement has also felt the gravitational pull of the culture wars. Emma Green, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Throughout the comedy-drama, Cliff navigates the next era of his life, one of frequent drug use and hook-up culture. Brendan Le, Peoplemag, 10 Mar. 2024 This move, of course, is soaked in the maddening motif of the current Dodger culture. Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2024 Real or not, Molly and the song that brought her to life has become entrenched in Dublin culture, Yeates said. Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 9 Mar. 2024 The 13 Best Beaches in Bali Guanacaste, Costa Rica Costa Rica's northwestern coast boasts incredible beaches and an active culture — which isn't surprising considering people come to Guanacaste to do every water sport imaginable. Maya Kachroo-Levine, Travel + Leisure, 9 Mar. 2024 Some of the skulls had evidence of cranial modification, which was done for aesthetics and social distinction in certain Mesoamerican cultures, researchers said. Moira Ritter, Miami Herald, 28 Feb. 2024
Verb
The price of pearls crashed when processes were invented for culturing them at low cost. Dave Birnbaum, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Another study investigated the effects of injecting human corneal endothelial cells cultured on a Descemet's membrane (DM) substrate and found promising results in patients with Fuchs's endothelial corneal dystrophy. William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 17 Feb. 2024 Several weeks ago, the CDC was able to grow the Fusarium fungus from the spinal fluid of a patient in Tennessee and compare it to the fungus cultured last year from the brain autopsy. Barbara Mantel, NBC News, 8 Feb. 2024 But when those cells are removed from the body and cultured in a lab, as in the case of CAR-T treatment, those cells can start replicating and stir up a life-threatening infection. Damian Garde, STAT, 9 Nov. 2023 Others are already getting squalene from yeast instead of sharks and culturing oil from bacteria to reduce crop land. Lily Fitzgerald, STAT, 5 Sep. 2023 The test starts by culturing bacteria taken from a swab of body fluid, then directly exposing the bacteria to various penicillin types in a lab. Jenny Sweigard, Verywell Health, 16 Nov. 2023 There are rooms for culturing diseased cells, growing antibodies, and sequencing their DNA: Technicians in lab coats prepare samples and tap away at computers as machines whir in the background. WIRED, 9 Aug. 2023 One existing option is culturing a single layer of neurons in a petri dish, guiding cells to grow over recording electrodes. WIRED, 3 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'culture.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

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

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Verb

1510, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of culture was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near culture

Cite this Entry

“Culture.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

culture

1 of 2 noun
cul·​ture ˈkəl-chər How to pronounce culture (audio)
1
2
: the raising or development of a product or crop by careful attention
bee culture
the culture of grapes
3
: improvement of the mind, tastes, and manners through careful training
4
a
: a particular stage, form, or kind of civilization
ancient Greek culture
b
: the beliefs, social practices, and characteristics of a racial, religious, or social group
c
: the characteristic features of everyday life shared by people in a particular place or time
southern culture
5
: cultivation of living material (as bacteria) in a special usually liquid or jellylike nutrient preparation
also : a product of such cultivation

culture

2 of 2 verb
cultured; culturing ˈkəlch-(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce culture (audio)
: to grow in a prepared medium

Medical Definition

culture

1 of 2 noun
cul·​ture ˈkəl-chər How to pronounce culture (audio)
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
cultural adjective
culturally adverb

culture

2 of 2 transitive verb
cultured; culturing ˈkəlch-(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce culture (audio)
1
: to grow (as microorganisms or tissues) in a prepared medium
2
: to start a culture from
culture soil
also : to make a culture of
culture milk

More from Merriam-Webster on culture

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!