culture war

[ kuhl-cher wawr ]

noun

1. a conflict or struggle for dominance between groups within a society or between societies, arising from their differing beliefs, practices, etc.:

   a culture war over the right to own a gun; China’s culture war with the Western world.

Word History and Origins

Origin of culture war¹

First recorded in 1875–80; a loan translation of German Kulturkampf ( def ). The contemporary sense was first recorded in 1985–90 .

Example Sentences

He cast the protests in terms of a culture war, describing protesters—some of whom had displayed artwork that mixed pride flags with an image of the Kaaba—as “LGBT youth” working against Turkey’s “national and spiritual values.”

From Time

Last year’s Doritos Super Bowl commercial with grizzled Hollywood vet Sam Elliott and out-and-proud, hip-hop country rapper Lil Nas X with Billy Ray Cyrus waded into the culture wars in wonderfully sly fashion.

From Ozy

The culture war over encrypted messaging might finally be ending.

From Time

Without foreign tourists, with closed clubs, pubs and restaurants, and with the ruling party stoking a new culture war over LGBTQ rights, Budapest’s flourishing drag scene faces the dual brunt of conservative attitudes and economic hardship.

From Ozy

If it becomes another culture war football like masks, it will not help us get past the virus and return to normal.

From ProPublica

I am personally guilty of thinking that the culture war can be at least partially won on style points.

From The Daily Beast

In the respectable guise of religious liberty, the zombie-like Culture War soldiers on.

From The Daily Beast

Different battlefield, but the same “culture war,” the same sides.

From The Daily Beast

We smart people in the big cities all agree that the right has lost the culture war.

From The Daily Beast

But West Virginia is the one place where the right won the culture war.

From The Daily Beast