cultivate
Americanverb (used with object)
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cultivates,
present (3rd person singular)
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cultivated,
past participle, past
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cultivating
present participle
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to prepare and work on (land) in order to raise crops; till.
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to use a cultivator on.
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to promote or improve the growth of (a plant, crop, etc.) by labor and attention.
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to produce by culture.
to cultivate a strain of bacteria.
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to develop or improve by education or training; train; refine.
to cultivate a singing voice.
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to promote the growth or development of (an art, science, etc.); foster.
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to devote oneself to (an art, science, etc.).
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to seek to promote or foster (friendship, love, etc.).
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to seek the acquaintance or friendship of (a person).
verb
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to till and prepare (land or soil) for the growth of crops
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to plant, tend, harvest, or improve (plants) by labour and skill
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to break up (land or soil) with a cultivator or hoe
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to improve or foster (the mind, body, etc) as by study, education, or labour
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to give special attention to
to cultivate a friendship
to cultivate a hobby
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to give or bring culture to (a person, society, etc); civilize
Usage
What does cultivate mean? When used literally, cultivate means to take steps to grow something or improve its growth, especially crops. When used figuratively, it means much the same thing, except that the thing being grown or improved is often an abstract thing, such as a business or a friendship. The literal sense of cultivate is most often used in the context of agriculture, but it can also refer to things being grown in a laboratory. Its figurative sense can apply to many different things, such as relationships, skills, and even cultures. Example: Farmers have cultivated a variety of crops in this region.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overcultivateverb (used with object)
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precultivateverb (used with object)
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recultivateverb (used with object)
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cultivatesimple
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cultivatessimple
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have cultivatedperfect
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has cultivatedperfect
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am cultivatingprogressive
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are cultivatingprogressive
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is cultivatingprogressive
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have been cultivatingperfect progressive
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has been cultivatingperfect progressive
Past
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cultivatedsimple
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had cultivatedperfect
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was cultivatingprogressive
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were cultivatingprogressive
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had been cultivatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cultivate
First recorded in 1610–20; from Medieval Latin cultīvātus, past participle of cultīvāre “to till,” equivalent to cultīv(us) “tilled,” derivative of Latin colere “to inhabit, till” + -īvus -ive + -āre, infinitive suffix; cf. cult
Explanation
To cultivate is to nurture and help grow. Farmers cultivate crops, fundraising professionals cultivate donors, and celebrities cultivate their images. When you cultivate something, you work to make it better. Originally, the word referred only to crops that required tilling, but the meaning has widened. No matter what is being cultivated, the word implies a level of care that is reminiscent of gardening. Sometimes friendships come naturally and sometimes you have to cultivate them. To cultivate anything requires an attention to detail, an understanding of what is being cultivated, and a lot of patience.
Vocabulary lists containing cultivate
The Vernal Vocabulary of Spring
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The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 5
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List 7
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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.
See Examples For:
"Europe can help to break this cycle through the respect for others that it has learned to cultivate and preserve," Leo said, on the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
A fraudster can try to cultivate a financial or romantic relationship by pretending to be someone else.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
Being on site helps reporters cultivate sources and break news, which in turn helps inform those of us who don’t have access to the building.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
Bilal said faith in politics, government and corporations is not high among his peers, but he’s trying to grow a network of young people to cultivate and support future leaders.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
And part of your job, aside from parsing abstract intellectual property issues for big corporations, is to help cultivate the next set of young lawyers being courted by the firm.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
What he cultivates instead is patience – the type of glacial cool it takes to seize a cosmic destiny.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
When a promotion affords her a workspace, she cultivates a fixation with paperweights, which help keep her daydreaming grounded.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
How he works with the White House - and the kind of relationship he cultivates with the president - could prove crucial for implementing his agenda.
From BBC ● Jan. 1, 2026
Its rich soil has facilitated high production levels, and the region now cultivates one third of England's vegetables and 20 percent of its potatoes and beetroots.
From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2025
Like the gardener, a leader must take responsibility for what he cultivates; he must mind his work, try to repel enemies, preserve what can be preserved, and eliminate what cannot succeed.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Maybe I’d just cultivated too much shark knowledge, well aware that these apex predators are docile and do not hunt humans like they do in Peter Benchley’s novel.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
Over the years, Vucic has cultivated the image of a tireless leader criss-crossing Serbia, attracting investment and creating jobs.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
The irony, as the region stumbled into the ’80s, is that between its wealth and carefully cultivated isolation, Marin came to exemplify the ethos of conformist America: every man for himself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
That transformation will likely go beyond the energy and water footprints of data centers or electricity generation, promising everything from affordable and palatable cultivated meats to lower-impact precision agriculture to hyperefficient jet engines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Shasta trotted back through the Tombs—they looked quite ordinary now and he wondered how he could ever have been afraid of them—and down into the cultivated land by the river's side.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
At age 12, Martínez Celaya entered into an apprenticeship with a painter — the start of his formal artistic training — and around the same time he began cultivating an interest in writing and philosophy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
They then take their sweet time “fattening up” their marks, cultivating trust and gradually feeding them promises of bigger and better returns.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
The conflict has upended the fun-loving vibes the musician spent his life cultivating, with the family seeming rudderless without him, according to court documents and interviews.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
It is a very different operation from the traditional way of cultivating avocados in India, where they were planted among other crops for shade.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
By around 8500 BCE, societies in all seven areas of settlement were domesticating and cultivating plants.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
