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
"This is our fourth generation in Pakistan," he said, adding there are more than 106 Bengali neighbourhoods in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city which is known as a multicultural melting pot.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
That convention was also where Jackson forever secured his place within the party’s center with his rousing speech urging its old guard to embrace a broader multicultural spectrum, including the queer community.
From Salon • Feb. 22, 2026
Hindoyan said the new season lineup was inspired by his dual goals of reanimating the operatic canon and honoring L.A.’s multicultural spirit — the season features selections from the American, Italian and French repertoires.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026
After some practice with this, it will be easy to plan an integrated multicultural lesson using something like kamishibai, or Japanese story cards.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
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.
