culture war

American  

[kuhl-cher wawr] / ˈkʌl tʃər ˌwɔr /

noun

1. a conflict or struggle for dominance between groups within a society or between societies, arising from their differing beliefs, practices, etc..

   a culture war over the right to own a gun; China’s culture war with the Western world.

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Etymology

Origin of culture war

First recorded in 1875–80; a loan translation of German Kulturkampf ( def. ). The contemporary sense was first recorded in 1985–90 .

Example Sentences

Helmick of the ALA considers the attacks on libraries to be more than a culture war alone.

From Salon • Apr. 26, 2026

"Let's remove the whole culture war thing entirely and focus on the pragmatic element plenty of people will like and will choose to use," is how one government figure put it to me.

From BBC • Jan. 13, 2026

Maybe Mr. Noseda really is tone-deaf to America’s culture war.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025

Kinkade’s enormous 1990s-era success, which saw his work reproduced on everything from collectible plates to La-Z-Boy loungers, dovetailed with the period’s culture war against the sexualization of art.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2025

It is, however, not to be forgotten that in early stages of culture war constitutes almost the only form in which contact with an alien group occurs.

From Introduction to the Science of Sociology by Park, Robert Ezra