material culture
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of material culture
First recorded in 1925–30
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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.
“The heroes, the poetics, the material culture, the everyday,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
On top of its potential communicative importance and intrinsic value as a cultural behavior, accumulative stone throwing involves durable primate material culture, the loss of which would constitute the erasure of primate heritage.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Shakers, with their signature spare style, have had an outsize impact on material culture, considering their numbers—a peak estimated at 6,000 members in the mid-19th century—and segregation from the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
The burials had scanty grave goods—a bead and a dog paw—so it’s hard to connect them to any particular material culture.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 19, 2024
The differing availability of raw materials imposed an obvious constraint on material culture.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
