Meaning & use
cultures
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“cultures” is a form of “culture”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
The different ways of life, customs, beliefs and arts shared by separate groups of people.
Grammar: Plural of culture; used when comparing groups: different cultures.
Patterns
- cultures of somewhere
- between cultures
Our school welcomes students from many different cultures.
Greeting customs vary greatly between cultures.
She studies how ancient cultures built their cities.
nounpluralbiologytechnical
Samples of bacteria or cells grown in a laboratory for study or testing.
Grammar: Plural of culture in the lab sense.
Patterns
- cultures of something
The technician grew cultures from the patient's blood sample.
The cultures in the dish were checked every day for growth.
Some cultures are used in making yogurt and cheese.
verbtransitivebiologytechnical
Grows bacteria or cells in a lab; the he/she/it form of culture.
Grammar: Takes an object: she cultures the sample.
Patterns
- someone cultures something
The lab cultures the cells at body temperature.
She cultures the sample for two days before testing it.
The company cultures the bacteria in large steel tanks.
Word forms
| base form | culture |
|---|---|
| past tense | cultured |
| -ing form | culturing |
Common combinations
- different cultures
- Travel teaches you how different cultures live.
- ancient cultures
- Ancient cultures often shared stories about floods.
- blend of cultures
- The city is a blend of cultures from three continents.
- compare cultures
- The class will compare cultures in Asia and Europe.
- bacterial cultures
- Bacterial cultures grew in the warm incubator.
Synonyms and how they differ
- societies
- Societies emphasizes organized groups of people and their structure, while cultures focuses on shared customs, beliefs and arts.
- civilizations
- Civilizations suggests large, advanced societies, often historical, and is narrower than the broad cultures.
- traditions
- Traditions refers to specific customs handed down, whereas cultures covers a whole way of life.
- peoples
- Peoples names the groups themselves, while cultures describes what they share and practice.
Word family
- culture noun
- the customs and way of life of a group
- cultural adjective
- relating to culture
- culturally adverb
- in a way that relates to culture
- cultured adjective
- well educated in the arts
- multicultural adjective
- including many cultures
Commonly confused: cultures or cultivars?
cultures vs cultivars
Cultivars are plant varieties grown by gardeners; cultures are the ways of life of groups of people or lab samples.
Practice
The festival celebrates music and food from many ______ around the world.
Choose one answer.
Many needs a plural noun, and cultures names the ways of life being celebrated. 'Culture' is singular, and 'cults' means something quite different.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cultures”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.