subculture

noun sub·cul·ture \ ˈsəb-ˌkəl-chər \

Updated on: 19 May 2018

Definition of subculture

1 a : a culture (as of bacteria) derived from another culture

b : an act or instance of producing a subculture

2 : an ethnic, regional, economic, or social group exhibiting characteristic patterns of behavior sufficient to distinguish it from others within an embracing culture or society

a criminal subculture

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subcultural

play \ˌsəb-ˈkəlch-rəl, -ˈkəl-chə-\ adjective

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subculturally

adverb

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subculture

transitive verb

See subculture defined for English-language learners

Examples of subculture in a Sentence

a subculture of local painters
a subculture of poverty and crime

Recent Examples of subculture from the Web

Black genius exists in black women and in black subcultures, and the inability to receive that message from them continues the erasure of our own, while dismissing the notion that thought can be taught and led by others.

— george johnson, The Root, "Black Genius: A Privilege Afforded Only to Straight Black Men," 9 May 2018
Beauty with Mi, hosted by Refinery29's beauty writer Mi-Anne Chan, explores the coolest new trends, treatments, products, and subcultures in the beauty world.

— refinery29.com, "I Swapped Beauty Routines With My Mom For 3 Days — & 3 Days Was Enough," 7 May 2018
And to honor the overlap between those two subcultures, more than 20 local bands are playing downtown Mesa on three stages.

— ed masley, azcentral, "Phoenix local music picks for May: Hogjaw, Technicolors, the Woodworks, Intent, Sunday at Noon," 3 May 2018
These queens, however, are not only part of gay history and subculture, but were the pioneers leading the way to the general acceptance in contemporary society.

— theodore p. mahne, NOLA.com, "Southern Rep's bill of lesser Tennessee Williams holds limited appeal," 27 Mar. 2018
Unconventional in style and contemplative in tone, The Last Race represents more of a living document of a dwindling American subculture than a typical sports documentary.

— justin lowe, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Last Race': Film Review | Sundance 2018," 23 Jan. 2018
Despite the risks, a subculture of collectors who prefer older incarnations of fragrances has always existed, though typically these were characters who combed the back alleys of the web looking for L’Amour in all the wrong places.

— john brodie, Town & Country, "Why Some Perfumers Are Betting That Fragrance Gets Better With Age," 30 Apr. 2018
Investigators noted that Rodger was motivated by a personal grievance related to the extremist ideological subculture of men's rights activists propagated in online forums, such as 4Chan, Campbell said.

— michelle krupa, CNN, "The accused Toronto van driver appears to have lauded an American mass killer," 24 Apr. 2018
One such citizen of the subculture, artist Charlie Lyon, started his career painting surfboards in the then-backyard operation of the now-iconic shaper, John Mel.

— leilani marie labong, San Francisco Chronicle, "Former surfboard painter has an eye for Islands identity," 7 Mar. 2018

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