culture

Syllables: cul·ture/ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Northern England/ˈkʊlt͡ʃə/

culture noun: the arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation. Also the ellipsis of archaeological culture.

Noun

culture (countable and uncountable, plural cultures)

The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
- Castration of bulls was a socialization process that turned a bull into an ox; in this transformation something wild became something very useful; nature became culture.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 125
- Such differences of history and culture have lingering consequences. Almost all the corn and soyabeans grown in America are genetically modified. GM crops are barely tolerated in the European Union. Both America and Europe offer farmers indefensible subsidies, but with different motives.2013 September 7, “Farming as rocket science”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852
The beliefs, values, behaviour, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
- I condemn neither way; but culture works differently. It does not try to teach down to the level of inferior classes; it does not try to win them for this or that sect of its own, with ready-made judgments and watchwords. It seeks to do away with classes; to make the best that has been thought and...1882, Matthew Arnold, “Sweetness and Light”, in Culture and Anarchy
The conventional conducts and ideologies of a community; the system comprising the accepted norms and values of a society.
- Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution.2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page 164
Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.
Cultivation.
- http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/suffolk/grownet/flowers/sprgbulb.htm
  The Culture of Spring-Flowering Bulbs
The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
The growth thus produced.
- I'm headed to the lab to make sure my cell culture hasn't died.
A group of bacteria.
The details on a map that do not represent natural features of the area delineated, such as names and the symbols for towns, roads, meridians, and parallels.
(euphemistic) Ethnicity, race (and its associated arts, customs, etc.).

Verb

culture (third-person singular simple present cultures, present participle culturing, simple past and past participle cultured)

(transitive) to maintain in an environment suitable for growth (especially of bacteria) (compare cultivate)
(transitive) to increase the artistic or scientific interest (in something) (compare cultivate)

Also used as

culture is also the ellipsis of archaeological culture.

culture meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

culture in Hindi

arts, customs and habits: संस्कृति sanskŕti
the beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that constitute a people's way of life: संस्कृति sanskŕti
anthropology: any knowledge passed from one generation to the next: सभ्यता sabhyatā

culture in Tamil

arts, customs and habits: பண்பாடு paṇpāṭu, கலாச்சாரம் kalāccāram

culture in Marathi

arts, customs and habits: संस्कृती sauskŕtī

culture in Urdu

arts, customs and habits: ثَقافَت saqāfat, فَرْہَن٘گ farhaṅg, تَہْذِیب tahzīb

More languagesFewer languages

culture in Bengali: সংস্কৃতি śoṅskriti, রসম rośom, রেওয়াজ reōẇaj, তমদ্দুন tomoddun
culture in Telugu: సంస్కృతి saṁskr̥ti, సంప్రదాయము sampradāyamu, వంశానుగతం vaṁśānugataṁ, సూక్ష్మ జీవులు sūkṣma jīvulu
culture in Malayalam: സംസ്ക്കാരം saṁskkāraṁ
culture in Kannada: ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ saṃskṛti
culture in Punjabi: ਸੰਸਕ੍ਰਿਤੀ sanskritī
culture in Gujarati: સંસ્કૃતિ sãskŕti
culture in Odia: ସଂସ୍କୃତି saṁskruti
culture in Sanskrit: संस्कृति saṃskṛti
culture in Sinhala: සංස්කෘතිය saṁskr̥tiya
culture in Assamese: সংস্কৃতি xoṅskriti
culture in Nepali: संस्कृति sanskr̥ti
culture in Pashto: کلتور kultur, ثقافت saqāfat, فرهنګ farhang, کلچر kalčar
culture in Tagalog: kultura, kalinangan, pamumuhay
culture in Arabic: ثَقَافَة ṯaqāfa
culture in Malay: budaya
culture in Indonesian: budaya
culture in Thai: วัฒนธรรม wát-tá-ná-tam
culture in Vietnamese: văn hoá
culture in Myanmar: ယဉ်ကျေးမှု yanykye:hmu.
Dhivehi: ސަގާފަތު sagāfatu

Examples of culture in a sentence

The notion of culture is one whose meanings are plural and shifting.
The zero sign in American Sign Language is considered rude in some cultures.
In many cultures, a baby turns one year old a year after its birth.

All 40 example sentences with culture

Forms of culture

Noun
plural	cultures
alternative pronunciation-spelling	culcha
Verb
third-person singular present	cultures
present participle	culturing
past participle	cultured
past	cultured

Past tense of culture: cultured

Plural of culture: cultures

Origin of culture

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)”).

Words formed from culture

Phrases with culture

37 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with culture

Questions about culture

What does culture mean?: Culture means the arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and habits that characterize humankind, or a particular society or nation.
What is culture in Hindi?: Culture in Hindi is संस्कृति (sanskŕti), सभ्यता (sabhyatā). See Culture meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is culture?: Culture can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce culture?: Culture is pronounced /ˈkʌlt͡ʃə/ (UK).
What is the plural of culture?: The plural of culture is cultures.

Words near culture in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: culture (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-culture.ogg, En-us-culture.ogg.

Cite this entry: “culture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/culture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.