Meaning of culture in English

culture

noun

/ˈkʌl.tʃɚ/ uk

/ˈkʌl.tʃər/

culture noun (WAY OF LIFE)

Add to word list Add to word list

B1 [ C or U ]

the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time:

She's studying modern Japanese language and culture.

This is one of the most ancient cultures in the world.

[ C or U ]

the attitudes, behavior, opinions, etc. of a particular group of people within society:

culture of The investigation found there was a culture of sexism and racism within the organization.

popular/working-class culture

See also

call-out culture
cancel culture
counter-culture
enterprise culture
maker culture
pop culture
subculture
youth culture

More examplesFewer examples

American culture has been exported all over the world.
She got some books out of the library and immersed herself in Jewish history and culture.
Each culture had a special ritual to initiate boys into manhood.
Don't you think it is wrong to try to impose western culture on other countries?
It's a nostalgia trip back into the swinging culture of the 1960s.
Do you think there is a culture of lying within modern politics?

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Lifestyles & their study

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Groups of people

Opinions, beliefs and points of view

culture noun (ART)

B1 [ U ]

music, art, theater, literature, etc.:

You won't find much culture in this sleepy little town, I'm afraid!

popular culture He claimed that popular culture (= the books, music, etc. liked by most people) led to a decline in morals.

More examplesFewer examples

I was suffering from an overdose of culture.
She's the personification of culture and refinement.
The advertising industry's use of classic songs is vandalism of popular culture, he said.
There's not much here in the way of culture.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Art & culture

See more results »

culture noun (GROWING)

[ C or U ] biology specialized

cells, tissues, organs, or organisms grown for scientific purposes, or the activity of breeding and keeping particular living things in order to get the substances they produce

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Bacteria, molds, germs & viruses

See more results »

culture

verb [ T ]

biology specialized

/ˈkʌl.tʃɚ/ uk

/ˈkʌl.tʃər/

to breed and keep particular living things in order to get the substances they produce

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Bacteria, molds, germs & viruses

See more results »

(Definition of culture from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

culture | Intermediate English

culture

noun

/ˈkʌl·tʃər/

culture noun (WAY OF LIFE)

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C/U ] social studies

the way of life of a particular people, esp. as shown in their ordinary behavior and habits, their attitudes toward each other, and their moral and religious beliefs:

[ U ] He studied the culture of the Sioux Indians.

culture noun (ARTS)

[ U ]

the arts of describing, showing, or performing that represent the traditions or the way of life of a particular people or group; literature, art, music, dance, theater, etc.

culture noun (ARTIFICIAL GROWTH)

[ C ] biology

the growing of a group of microorganisms (= very small organisms) or other cells in an artificial environment for scientific purposes, or a group of organisms so grown

culture

verb [ T ]

us/ˈkʌl·tʃər/

culture verb [T] (GROW ARTIFICIALLY)

biology

to grow cells, bacteria, or similar things for scientific purposes

(Definition of culture from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

culture | Business English

culture

noun

/ˈkʌltʃər/ us

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C or U ]

the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time:

You will need time to get used to working in a different culture.

In today's culture, wireless is part of our daily lives.

[ C or U ] WORKPLACE

the ideas and ways of working that are typical for an organization, and that affect how it does business and how its employees behave:

culture (of sth) Where I work there's a culture of collaboration.

build/develop/foster, etc. a culture Our aim was to foster a culture of innovation at all levels in the company.

business/company/management culture This is a handy guide to the management culture in the countries with which we do business.

See also

corporate culture

safety culture

[ U ] PRODUCTION

the growing of crops:

The conditions in the area are ideal for vegetable culture.

(Definition of culture from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of culture

culture

The various genres of queens all find a way to relate to the current culture they live in and respond to that in some way.

From Huffington Post

And on the flip side, how do you satisfy your curiosity about other cultures, and what are your tips for folks who want to try?

From NPR

The city, like the culture, is shifting from ours to everyone's.

From NPR

But most recent books deal with other matters: deindustrialization, culture and gender, the fracturing of intellectual life, race, and civil rights.

From Slate Magazine

My mother had a great sensibility about culture.

From NOLA.com

And the answers all lie in the culture.

From Huffington Post

I don't see hookup culture as an empowering culture.

From The Atlantic

Racism in the literary culture has been a rank obscenity; far worse in practice, needless to say.

From Huffington Post

There is a rich history of several efforts that have done this, so, why has this culture continued to grow in our country?

From Huffington Post

And human beings have taken culture to a whole new level.

From NPR

Work side-by-side with locals, learn from them and support them while maintaining respect for their culture and knowledge.

From Huffington Post

A library is a "learning center"; it reinforces a culture of education.

From CNN

Mistrusted for the most part, their traditions and lifestyle are not well understood within the larger culture.

From NPR

So what is unobjectionable to one person or culture may be obviously objectionable to another.

From The Atlantic

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with culture

culture

These are words often used in combination with culture.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

alien culture

A mere hint of an accent can seem to the hearer to represent an alien culture.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

ancient culture

Ventura survival of old beliefs and customs that may help us in understanding the ancient culture.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

aspect of culture

He sought neither to reduce the cultural sciences to the natural sciences nor to show that science was just another aspect of culture.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with culture

What is the pronunciation of culture?

B1,B1

Translations of culture

in Chinese (Traditional)

生活方式, 文化（尤指某一群體在某一時期普遍的風俗習慣和信仰）, 藝術…

Meaning of culture in English

culture noun (WAY OF LIFE)

culture noun (ART)

culture noun (GROWING)

culture | Intermediate English

culture noun (WAY OF LIFE)

culture noun (ARTS)

culture noun (ARTIFICIAL GROWTH)

culture verb [T] (GROW ARTIFICIALLY)

culture | Business English

Examples of culture

Collocations with culture

culture

Translations of culture

Browse

Learn more with +Plus

Learn more with +Plus