subculture

American  

[suhb-kuhl-cher, suhb-kuhl-cher] / sʌbˈkʌl tʃər, ˈsʌbˌkʌl tʃər /

verb (used with object)

subcultured, subculturing

1. Bacteriology. to cultivate (a bacterial strain) again on a new medium.

---

noun

1. Bacteriology. a culture derived in this manner.

2. Sociology.

   1. the cultural values and behavioral patterns distinctive of a particular group in a society.

   2. a group having social, economic, ethnic, or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.

subculture British  

noun

1. a subdivision of a national culture or an enclave within it with a distinct integrated network of behaviour, beliefs, and attitudes

2. a culture of microorganisms derived from another culture

---

verb

1. (tr) to inoculate (bacteria from one culture medium) onto another medium

subculture Cultural  

1. A group within a society that has its own shared set of customs, attitudes, and values, often accompanied by jargon or slang. A subculture can be organized around a common activity, occupation, age, status, ethnic background, race, religion, or any other unifying social condition, but the term is often used to describe deviant groups, such as thieves and drug users. (See counterculture.)

---

Other Word Forms

• subcultural adjective
• subculturally adverb

Etymology

Origin of subculture

First recorded in 1895–1900; sub- + culture

Example Sentences

After a session on how their division could up its game, Presley got a call from Freixe, complaining that Presley was trying to create a subculture within Nestlé.

From The Wall Street Journal

In sixth grade, I discovered the subculture of living history, which is built around enthusiasts who research, reconstruct and reenact past eras.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’s a subculture that might not be as interesting as a lot of journalists believe.

From Salon

Critics and digital subcultures embraced the niche volume like a manifesto — and a marker of Seu’s arrival as a public intellectual whose archiving was itself a form of activism.

From Los Angeles Times

In his 2004 book, “Who Are We? The Challenge to America’s National Identity,” Huntington described this as a unifying outlook that most Americans traditionally had shared, “whatever their subcultures.”

From The Wall Street Journal