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culture shock

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noun

a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment.

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What Does "Culture Shock" Mean?

What does the phrase "culture shock" mean ... and how can a culture be shocking?

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of culture shock

First recorded in 1955–60

OTHER WORDS FROM culture shock

culture-shocked, adjective

Words nearby culture shock

culture-free test, culture hero, culture jamming, culture medium, culture pattern, culture shock, culture specific syndrome, culture trait, culture vulture, culture war, culturist

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use culture shock in a sentence

“That would be a culture shock for her, right after a full year of having all the attention,” says Aikey, who has vivid memories of the day her family bought Penny from a pet store in 2005, even though she was only in second grade.
Some Workers Are Choosing Their Pets Over Their Jobs as Offices Reopen, But Will Animal-Friendly Workplaces Catch On?|Melissa Chan|July 7, 2021|Time
Initially a blur of culture shock juxtaposed with her ongoing disenchantment, the journals track her obsession with her elusive, rakish colleague as well as her increasingly erratic state of mind.
Amanda Dennis’s ‘Her Here’ is a spellbinding existential thriller|Lauren LeBlanc|March 11, 2021|Washington Post
Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so.
The Muslim Cop Killed by Terrorists|Michael Daly|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I don't know why or who's doing it, but it's the legacy…and it's a legacy that is so important to the culture.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers|Stereo Williams|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST

A lot of the culture around movies in the sci-fi/fantasy genre is about deconstructing them ad nauseam.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire|William O’Connor|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Whether he gets his full due in popular culture remains to be seen.
Ed Brooke: The Senate's Civil Rights Pioneer and Prophet of a Post-Racial America|John Avlon|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
If the oft-talked-about college “hook-up culture” could be embodied by a place, it would be Shooters.
Random Hook-Ups or Dry Spells: Why Millennials Flunk College Dating|Ellie Schaack|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In Cuba its culture commenced in 1580, and from this and the other islands large quantities were shipped to Europe.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
The culture of expression is a very different thing from the artful imitation of the signs of feeling and purpose.
Expressive Voice Culture|Jessie Eldridge Southwick
Yet a child coming under the humanising influences of culture soon gets far away from the level of the savage.
Children's Ways|James Sully
Its culture however was looked upon with the same disapproval by Charles II.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
It would be a modest guess that Accadian culture implied a growth of at least ten thousand years.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford

British Dictionary definitions for culture shock

culture shock

noun

sociol the feelings of isolation, rejection, etc, experienced when one culture is brought into sudden contact with another, as when a primitive tribe is confronted by modern civilization

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 Idioms and Phrases with culture shock

culture shock

A state of confusion and anxiety experienced by someone upon encountering an alien environment. For example, It's not just jet lag—it's the culture shock of being in a new country. This term was first used by social scientists to describe, for example, the experience of a person moving from the country to a big city. It is now used more loosely, as in the example. [Late 1930s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.