monoculture

noun mono·cul·ture \ ˈmä-nə-ˌkəl-chər \

|Updated on: 7 Jun 2018

Definition of monoculture

1 a : the cultivation or growth of a single crop or organism especially on agricultural or forest land

b : a crop or a population of a single kind of organism grown on land in monoculture

c : growth consisting of a single crop, plant, or organism

The plant forms a thick monoculture that cuts down on the variety of plants and birdlife in the marsh …
—James Gorman

2 : a culture dominated by a single element : a prevailing culture marked by homogeneity

—

monocultural

play \ˌmä-nə-ˈkəlch-rəl, -ˈkəl-chə-\ adjective

Recent Examples of monoculture from the Web

The plant establishes a monoculture that grows 15 feet in height, and each plant every year can pump out 12,000 seeds viable for up to 90 years.

— lynda v. mapes, The Seattle Times, "Battling Scotch broom along Olympic’s Hoh River that threatens fish, forests," 27 May 2018
Climate change, the over-use of inorganic pesticides, and GMO monocultures have all severely depleted the bees’ natural sources of forage.

— rebecca straus, Good Housekeeping, "6 Things You Need To Know About Organic Beekeeping Before Starting A Backyard Hive," 16 Feb. 2017
Over just a few generations, the blue agave gene pool has become dangerously inbred, Cuellar warns, and such a monoculture is easy prey for a disease that could devastate the industry.

— max falkowitz, GQ, "How to Buy Better Tequila That Won’t Give You Bad College Flashbacks," 3 May 2018
Outdoor vocabularies seem caught somewhere between honoring traditions by conveying a sense of place through diverse language and advancing as a monoculture to a dictionary of emojis.

— author: christine cunningham, Anchorage Daily News, "What is a sport hunter? Words don’t always fit a person’s motivation," 26 Apr. 2018
And, ultimately, not planting a monoculture is another, though most of our spruce are native to the area and not later planted.

— jeff lowenfels, Anchorage Daily News, "Spruce bark beetles are back with a vengeance. Here’s how to defend your trees.," 19 Apr. 2018
Residents can also move away from the monoculture lawn.

— guest columnist/cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Earth Day is Every Day: Laurel Hopwood (Opinion)," 8 Apr. 2018
There are other kinds of ambition, however, and if big business tends toward monoculture, there is biodiversity out on the fringes where strange creatures flourish on the forest floor.

— robert lloyd, latimes.com, "What the cancelation of shows like 'One Mississippi' and 'I Love Dick' may portend for the future," 14 Mar. 2018
In Tequila-producing areas, agave monoculture has led to plant disease and soil depletion.

— esther mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, "Susan Coss helped make mezcal popular. Now she has to keep mezcal real.," 15 Feb. 2018

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

First Known Use of monoculture

1901

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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See words that rhyme with monoculture Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about monoculture

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monoculture

Definition of monoculture

monocultural

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monocultural

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