culture
/ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/ noun, verb
Forms cultures culturing cultured culcha
- noun The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
- noun The beliefs, values, behaviour, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
- noun The conventional conducts and ideologies of a community; the system comprising the accepted norms and values of a society.
- noun (anthropology) Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.
- noun (botany, agriculture) Cultivation.
- noun (microbiology) The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
- noun The growth thus produced. “I'm headed to the lab to make sure my cell culture hasn't died.”
- noun A group of bacteria.
- verb (transitive) to maintain in an environment suitable for growth (especially of bacteria) (compare cultivate)
- verb (transitive) to increase the artistic or scientific interest (in something) (compare cultivate)
Synonyms
civilization civilisation acculturation polish refinement cultivation finish
Etymology
From Middle French culture (“cultivation; culture”), from Latin cultūra (“cultivation; culture”), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate, to grow, worship”) (related to colōnus and colōnia), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act or practice of cultivating, or of preparing the earth for seed and raising crops by tillage; as, the culture of the soil.
- noun The act of, or any labor or means employed for, training, disciplining, or refining the moral and intellectual nature of man; as. the culture of the mind.
- verb To cultivate; to educate.
Etymology [F. culture, L. cultura, fr. colere to till, cultivate; of uncertain origin. Cf. Colony.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “culture”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details