ku̇lˈtu̇(ə)r noun
( -s )
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: German, from Latin cultura culture — more at culture
1. : culture 5b
the dwindling survivors of New England Kultur — H.L.Mencken
our kultur should have its own characteristics — Irish Statesman
2. : culture chiefly of late 19th century Germans that is a state of civilization characterized by an emphasis on practical efficiency rather than on humanitarian refinements and subordination of the individual to a highly organized state
3. : culture that is an ideal state of civilization unique to Germany chiefly to militant German expansionists during the Nazi and late Hohenzollern periods usually to emphasize an alleged superiority of German material and political development over the cultures of other nations and peoples
the ethnocentric doctrine of Germanic Kultur … utilized for political purposes to justify cultural and political absolutism — David Bidney
German textbooks were fine-combed for the propaganda of Kultur — American Mercury