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Showing results for "cultivated"
Synonyms

cultivated

American  
[kuhl-tuh-vey-tid] / ˈkʌl təˌveɪ tɪd /

adjective

  1. prepared and used for raising crops; tilled.

    cultivated land.

  2. produced or improved by cultivation, as a plant.

  3. educated; refined; cultured.

    cultivated tastes.


cultivated British  
/ ˈkʌltɪˌveɪtɪd /

adjective

  1. cultured, refined, or educated

    1. subjected to tillage or cultivation

    2. tilled and broken up

  2. (of plants) specially bred or improved by cultivation

"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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of cultivated

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

Explanation

The adjective cultivated is used to describe someone who is polite and civilized. The cultivated people at the party would be very offended by crude behavior. Someone who's cultivated is knowledgeable or at least familiar with the arts, current events, history. He or she probably has traveled widely, or at least has read about other people and places. In other words, a cultivated person is a citizen of the world. As it applies to farming, cultivated soil is tilled, or churned, to prepare it for planting.

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Vocabulary lists containing cultivated

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:

The plant material included cultivated wheat, carrots, maize, bananas and peanuts.

From Science Daily Aug. 4, 2026

In recent months, Bardella has cultivated a very different image.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 1, 2026

That skill is cultivated through education in the performing arts.

From Salon Jul. 30, 2026

Kinjo says that reefs flanking his seaside farm consist entirely of corals he cultivated, with their natural peers "no longer able to keep up with a tremendous increase in stress" in the anthropogenically polluted ocean.

From Barron's Jul. 29, 2026

He fed the colt a high-quality strain of timothy hay, cultivated in Northern California, which he had come across during his first days as a trainer.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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