acculturation

American  

[uh-kuhl-chuh-rey-shuhn] / əˌkʌl tʃəˈreɪ ʃən /

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.

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acculturation Cultural  

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).

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Other Word Forms

• acculturational adjective

Etymology

Origin of acculturation

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

Compare meaning

How does acculturation compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• enculturation vs. acculturation

Explanation

Acculturation is what happens when you live with French people for a while and start going "ooh la la" and eating snails. It means adopting the ways of a culture that isn't yours. Acculturation is related to the word culture. Duh. Culture comes from a Latin word meaning, basically, farming. Now it refers to basically anything that people create and teach each other — singing, dancing, TV. Obviously people in different parts of the world have different cultures, and when they come together, the result is often acculturation. Picture a French guy drinking Coke and wearing a baseball cap and you get the idea.

Example Sentences

They sought to accelerate the acculturation and assimilation of the many immigrants into one people, which, as the Massachusetts political and literary figure Fisher Ames pointed out, meant, “to use the modern jargon, nationalized.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025

It’s something I learned as part of my acculturation as a New Orleanian.

From Slate • Jan. 7, 2025

"The amygdala is very sensitive to other types of prenatal stress," Spann says, "and our new findings suggest that the experience of discrimination and acculturation also influences amygdala circuitry, potentially across generations."

From Science Daily • Dec. 7, 2023

Another is acculturation, which Katz defined as “a process where you keep part of your culture” as you take in a new one.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2023

But the process of acculturation was accelerating as settlers began to move onto the reservation.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann