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When did the word culture start referring to customs, not just farming?

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culture

American  

[kuhl-cher] / ˈkʌl tʃər /

noun

• cultures
  plural

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period.

   Greek culture.

4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

5. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular group of people, as a social, ethnic, professional, or age group (usually used in combination).

   the youth culture; the drug culture.

6. the shared beliefs, behaviors, or social environment connected with a particular aspect of society.

   the rape culture on campus; the culture of poverty; a culture of celebrity worship.

7. the values, typical practices, and goals of a business or other organization, especially a large corporation.

   Their corporate culture frowns on avoiding risk.

8. Anthropology. the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.

9. Biology.

   1. the cultivation of microorganisms, as bacteria, or of tissues, for scientific study, medicinal use, etc.

   2. the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

10. the act or practice of cultivating the soil; tillage.

11. the raising of plants or animals, especially with a view to their improvement.

12. the product or growth resulting from such cultivation.

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verb (used with object)

• cultures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cultured,
  past participle,  past
• culturing
  present participle

1. to subject to culture; cultivate.

2. Biology.

   1. to grow (microorganisms, tissues, etc.) in or on a controlled or defined medium.

   2. to introduce (living material) into a culture medium.

culture British  

/ ˈkʌltʃə /

noun

1. the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action

2. the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group

   the Mayan culture

3. a particular civilization at a particular period

4. the artistic and social pursuits, expression, and tastes valued by a society or class, as in the arts, manners, dress, etc

5. the enlightenment or refinement resulting from these pursuits

6. the attitudes, feelings, values, and behaviour that characterize and inform society as a whole or any social group within it

   yob culture

7. the cultivation of plants, esp by scientific methods designed to improve stock or to produce new ones

8. stockbreeding the rearing and breeding of animals, esp with a view to improving the strain

9. the act or practice of tilling or cultivating the soil

10. biology

    1. the experimental growth of microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi, in a nutrient substance (culture medium), usually under controlled conditions See also culture medium

    2. a group of microorganisms grown in this way

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verb

1. to cultivate (plants or animals)

2. to grow (microorganisms) in a culture medium

culture Scientific  

/ kŭl′chər /

1. A growth of microorganisms, viruses, or tissue cells in a specially prepared nutrient medium under supervised conditions.

2. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Culture is learned and shared within social groups and is transmitted by nongenetic means.

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1. To grow microorganisms, viruses, or tissue cells in a nutrient medium.

culture Cultural  

1. The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next.

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Usage

What does culture mean? Culture is a collection of behaviors and beliefs associated with a particular group, as in Ming adores Mexican culture, especially Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Culture is also the quality of a person or group of people that comes from appreciating excellence in the arts, fashion, manners, and other characteristics of a society, as in A person of culture, Damon frequently attends the symphony and theater. To culture someone is to expose them to culture, particularly to one that is not their own. In biology and agriculture, a culture is a specific, enclosed group of organisms, such as a cell culture or a group of plants or animals that are separated from the rest. Related to this sense, to culture means to grow such a group of organisms. Example: The culture at my office is one of respect and interest in each others’ projects.

Synonym Usage

See education.

Discover More

Culture also refers to refined music, art, and literature; one who is well versed in these subjects is considered “cultured.”

Anthropologists consider that the requirements for culture (language use, tool making, and conscious regulation of sex) are essential features that distinguish humans from other animals.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• anticulture
  noun
• culturist
  noun
• interculture
  noun
• multiculture
  noun
• nonculture
  noun
• preculture
  noun
• superculture
  noun
• cultureless
  adjective
• interculture
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cultures
  plural

Participles

• culturing
  present
• cultured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• culture
  simple
• cultures
  simple
• have cultured
  perfect
• has cultured
  perfect
• am culturing
  progressive
• are culturing
  progressive
• is culturing
  progressive
• have been culturing
  perfect progressive
• has been culturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cultured
  simple
• had cultured
  perfect
• was culturing
  progressive
• were culturing
  progressive
• had been culturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will culture
  simple
• will have cultured
  perfect
• will be culturing
  progressive
• will have been culturing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of culture

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “tilling, place tilled,” from Anglo-French, Middle French, from Latin cultūra “cultivation, agriculture, tillage, care.” See cult, -ure

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Explanation

A culture is a specific group of people during a particular time — like the hippie culture of the 1960's. Culture can also imply exposure to the arts. Visit a museum if you are in need of a dose of culture. A useful thing to remember about culture is that it is closely related to cultivate, whose root meaning is "to till the soil." Even in Latin, the source language, cultura was used metaphorically (Cicero said philosophy was cultura animi, the "cultivation of the soul"), and in English it moved from the agricultural sense to training, development of language and literature, mental development through education, and finally the ideas, customs, and intellectual and artistic conditions of a society or group.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culture cultures cultured culturing

Its beaches and sand dunes sit alongside historic coastal cities such as Mogadishu, whose culture reflects centuries of Indian Ocean trade.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

It had been a reference to skinhead culture, but Skepta acknowledged how without that context people could find it offensive and promised to be more mindful going forward.

From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2026

Some observers of L.A. gang culture argued that the arrest fit a decades-long pattern of harassment by law enforcement of interventionists with criminal pasts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Cook’s popularity skyrocketed on Myspace, the social network that launched in 2003 and defined online culture at the time.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Grigori’s words passed through my head: An eyesore of rotten wood, stacked haphazardly, without taste or culture.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Spending a year as a deckhand is a family tradition for Salter, the creative director of Paspaley, a family business that was founded over 90 years ago and cultures rare pearls off Australia’s Kimberley coast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

Three geographically separated cultures have described the same highly specific hallucinations, and DNA testing has linked two of those cases to a single mushroom species.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026

Behind these parties is a new generation of black promoters passionate about creating spaces where black people can hear their music, celebrate their cultures and feel like they belong.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

Different cultures use different names for the 12 or 13 full Moons across the lunar calendar, but many of the common ones we use today originate from Native American cultures.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

I can visit the World Travel Arena downtown, where Deckers and guests can experience the cultures and environments of different countries and cities.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

When the researchers introduced this modified system into cultured liver cancer cells, they observed the anticancer compound forming inside the cells.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026

When Chief Executive Michal Beressi Golomb first showed off an early batch of cultured cocoa-bean chocolate bars made by her startup Celleste, she didn’t have enough for investors to taste.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

He then exposed the cultured cells to toxic chemicals to see how they responded to severe damage.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026

Additional in vivo research will be necessary to determine whether the effects translate beyond cultured cells.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 5, 2026

He liked that Leanne came from a cultured family.

From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson

There, he spent his days culturing cells and running experiments in a Minneapolis Veterans Affairs laboratory until 2016, when he left GeneSegues but stayed in Minnesota.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026

It does not require special bio-printing equipment or culturing methods to keep the tissue healthy, and can be studied in depth with microscopes, standard imaging techniques and electrodes already common in the field.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2024

Suspended in water, the legs of the new robot are made of 3D-printed elements, flexible rubber, and skeletal muscle tissue grown by culturing rat cells in a lab.

From Science Magazine ● Jan. 26, 2024

They used DNA sequencing, mass spectrometry and microbial culturing to look at the chemicals in the secretions and the microbes that make them.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2023

And soon, HeLa cells weren’t the only ones being bought and sold for research—with media and equipment standardization, culturing became easier, and researchers began growing cells of all kinds.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

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