multicultural
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of multicultural
Explanation
Multicultural things are made up of or include more than one ethnic group or culture. Your multicultural food fair might include dishes from Chile, Syria, Sudan, and France. The world is multicultural, and societies in most countries are multicultural. We all need to learn about people whose religions, skin color, histories, and cultures are completely different from ours — you can get this from multicultural education, like a world history class that includes multicultural perspectives. When the word multicultural was first used in the mid-twentieth century, it often referred to Canada. Multi- means "many," and cultural comes from the Latin cultura, "cultivating."
Vocabulary lists containing multicultural
The United States
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The Modern Period, c. 1750 to c. 1914
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"The Latehomecomer" by Kao Kalia Yang
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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.
But the city is one of the most multicultural in the world, and there’s a lot more to its food than steak frites.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
At the heart of the discussion, she said, is whether Quebec sees itself "as a multicultural society" or one that is more "assimilationist".
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026
One day you’re living in a vibrant, multicultural city that, yeah, has its problems but is also pretty great.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 15, 2026
He insisted that in the multicultural town "people cross cultural barriers every day".
From Barron's • Dec. 28, 2025
A multicultural interpretation of US history emphasizes only the “contributions” of groups that were ignored in the dominant origin myth, including Indigenous peoples, women, African Americans, and immigrants.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
