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.
Together these stories represent the consequences of changes that began years ago, rather than a sudden cultural shift in the entertainment industry.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2026
This was the very start of the age of mass television ownership, and Eurovision became such a fixture it is now an indelible piece of Europe's shared cultural heritage.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
There’s often this cultural disconnect between Mexicans living in the U.S. and Mexicans living in Mexico.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
The immediate destination, Matamoros, was a cultural entrepôt of traders of diverse tongues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
The massacres had happened over two hundred years ago, but the wound they’d made in our cultural history was left raw and festering, like a fault line that may begin trembling again at any moment.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
