cultural
Americanadjective
adjective
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of or relating to artistic or social pursuits or events considered to be valuable or enlightened
-
of or relating to a culture or civilization
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(of certain varieties of plant) obtained by specialized breeding
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cultural
Explanation
The adjective cultural comes from the noun "culture" but has several, subtly different meanings, depending on context. The chief meaning is anything having to do human intellectual or creative output. The word cultural is often used as a synonym for "ethnic," as in, "cultural diversity," which means a variety of people. But it also means having to do with the arts and creativity. When you move, you'll want to move somewhere with a vibrant cultural life—lots of museums, libraries, and concert halls. In the middle is a term like "cultural anthropology," which is the study of a population's work, arts, lifestyles, and ways of interacting.
Vocabulary lists containing cultural
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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.
“Brands can spend years and millions of dollars trying to build that kind of cultural equity from scratch, and we already had it,” Lebel said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
"We risk losing a truly unique species, one that's an important part of Indonesia's cultural and natural heritage and one of the oldest pig species still living," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The halal economy presents a different test, one in which religious credibility, cultural knowledge and supply-chain transparency may matter as much as price.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Zev Yaroslavsky, a former L.A. politician who served then as a City Council member representing district 5, said the new ethics role represented a “dramatic, profound cultural change in municipal government.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
To these natural population controls were added cultural mechanisms.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
