Culture

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkÊŒlt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

Origin

From Middle French culture ("cultivation; culture"), from Latin cultūra ("cultivation; culture"), from cultus, perfect passive participle of colō ("till, cultivate, worship") (related to colōnus and colōnia), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- ("to move; to turn (around)").

Full definition of culture

Noun

1. The arts, customs, and habits that characterize a particular society or nation.
• 2013-09-07, Farming as rocket science, 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.
2. The beliefs, values, behaviour and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
• 2012, Jan Sapp, Race Finished, 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.
3. (microbiology) The process of growing a bacterial or other biological entity in an artificial medium.
4. (anthropology) Any knowledge passed from one generation to the next, not necessarily with respect to human beings.
5. The collective noun for a group of bacteria.
6. (botany) Cultivation.
• http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/suffolk/grownet/flowers/sprgbulb.htmThe Culture of Spring-Flowering Bulbs
7. (computing) The language and peculiarities of a geographical location.A culture is the combination of the language that you speak and the geographical location you belong to. It also includes the way you represent dates, times and currencies. ... Examples: en-UK, en-US, de-AT, fr-BE, etc.

Derived terms

Related terms

• agriculture

Verb

1. (transitive) To maintain in an environment suitable for growth especially of bacteria.
2. (transitive) To increase the artistic or scientific interest in something.

Related terms