I. ˈkəl-chər noun
Etymology: Middle English, cultivated land, cultivation, from Anglo-French, from Latin cultura, from cultus, past participle
Date: 15th century
1. : cultivation , tillage
2. : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education
3. : expert care and training
beauty culture
4.
a. : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training
b. : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills
5.
a. : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations
b. : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group ; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time
popular culture
southern culture
c. : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization
a corporate culture focused on the bottom line
d. : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic
studying the effect of computers on print culture
changing the culture of materialism will take time — Peggy O'Mara
6. : the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media ; also : a product of such cultivation
II. transitive verb
( cul·tured ; cul·tur·ing ˈkəlch-riŋ, ˈkəl-chə-)
Date: 1510
1. : cultivate
2.
a. : to grow in a prepared medium
b. : to start a culture from