- culture
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I. 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 (cultured; culturing) Date: 1510 1. cultivate 2. a. to grow in a prepared medium b. to start a culture from
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.