acculturation

[ uh-kuhl-chuh-rey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the process of sharing and learning the cultural traits or social patterns of another group:

   Acculturation of immigrants has contributed to the rich cultural diversity of the city.

2. the result of this process.

acculturation

1. The learning of the ideas, values, conventions, and behavior that characterize a social group. ( See socialization .) Acculturation is also used to describe the results of contact between two or more different cultures ; a new, composite culture emerges, in which some existing cultural features are combined, some are lost, and new features are generated. Usually one culture is dominant (as in the case of colonization).

Other Words From

• ac·cultur·ation·al adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of acculturation¹

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80; ac- + culture + -ation

Example Sentences

Horsemeat, I realized at the Rue Poncelet counter, is a last redoubt against the onslaught of global acculturation.

From The Daily Beast

His family is a case study in the acculturation process he now trumpets.

From The Daily Beast

Acculturation by borrowing has played an important rle in the development of North American Indian ideas and institutions.

From Project Gutenberg

There are numerous other illustrations of this so-called "piratical acculturation" among the observations of ethnologists.

From Project Gutenberg

It took a lot of taming, or acculturation, for sex to become an intimate affair.

From Project Gutenberg

The ethnologists have investigated the process among primitive peoples under the title acculturation.

From Project Gutenberg

Among historical peoples, on the other hand, acculturation has been called assimilation.

From Project Gutenberg