Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

cultivator

American  
[kuhl-tuh-vey-ter] / ˈkʌl təˌveɪ tər /

noun

  1. a person or thing that cultivates.

  2. an implement drawn between rows of growing plants to loosen the earth and destroy weeds.


cultivator British  
/ ˈkʌltɪˌveɪtə /

noun

  1. a farm implement equipped with shovels, blades, etc, used to break up soil and remove weeds

  2. a person or thing that cultivates

  3. a person who grows, tends, or improves plants or crops

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What does cultivator mean? A cultivator is a farming or gardening tool that breaks up soil and removes weeds in rows where plants are growing or will be grown. It can also mean a person who grows crops. In both of these senses, a close synonym is the word tiller. More generally, cultivator can refer to someone or something that cultivates (grows or develops things). Cultivate is commonly used literally to refer to growing crops or other plants but can also be used figuratively, such as to refer to growing an abstract thing such as a business or a friendship. A cultivator can refer to someone who develops something like this. Example: My garden has become pretty big, so I decided to invest in a cultivator to make planting easier.

Etymology

Origin of cultivator

First recorded in 1655–65; cultivate + -or 2

Vocabulary lists containing cultivator

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Last week when several South American planters ordered cotton choppers, they could not be promised delivery sooner than next July, for Dixie Cultivator Corp. of Dallas was already working at capacity.

From Time Magazine Archive

Cultivator of the gardens of the mind, himself the very bud and bloom of humanistic learning, he follows Socrates in having taken as his modus operandi the emulous pursuit of all that is most excellent.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last year Dixie Cultivator Corp. sold 403 one-row choppers at $157.50 each.

From Time Magazine Archive

His only literature is Liebig’s Animal Chemistry; his lighter reading, the Cultivator and the New-England Farmer.

From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, January 1844 Volume 23, Number 1 by Various

We shall very soon receive another volume on Mineralogy from M. de Buffon; and a third volume of the "Cultivator Américain" is in the press.

From The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20) by Jefferson, Thomas

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "cultivator" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com