monoculture

noun

mono·cul·ture | \ˈmä-nə-ˌkəl-chər

Definition of monoculture

1a : 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

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Examples of monoculture in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Something is lost in this shift away from monoculture and into aesthetic alcoves, but only the rigidly nostalgic will insist nothing has been gained. — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, "Comics Select Their Audiences as Carefully as Their Jokes," 5 Feb. 2018 That might seem unlikely, except that botanists can cite examples where excessive crop monoculture led to disaster. — Kevin Begos, Smithsonian, "The Quest to Grow the First Great American Wine Grape," 6 June 2018 The Funky Pink begonia has the ability to be stand alone in a monoculture basket or container and look dazzling. — Norman Winter, sacbee, "Soon, you’ll be playing that Funky Pink in your displays," 6 July 2018 There’s also a tremendous amount of perspective that startups miss out on by having this monoculture. — Rachel Feintzeig, WSJ, "Rand Fishkin’s Tales From the Startup World," 12 June 2018 Nixey delivers this ballista-bolt of a book with her eyes wide open and in an attempt to bring light as well as heat to the sad story of intellectual monoculture and religious intolerance. — Bettany Hughes, New York Times, "How Christians Destroyed the Ancient World," 8 June 2018 The chip kingdom is unlikely to become a dull monoculture again anytime soon. — The Economist, "Artificial intelligence is awakening the chip industry’s animal spirits," 7 June 2018 In some areas, large swaths of monoculture exist naturally and are replanted as such. — Luc Forsyth, National Geographic, "For Cash and Pride, Replanting Canada's Forests by the Millions," 8 June 2018 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

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.