monoculture

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountabletechnicalbiology

   The agricultural practice of growing one crop, or raising one species, over a large area for many seasons.

   Grammar: Can be uncountable for the practice or countable for a particular system or field.

   Patterns

   • crop monoculture
   • soy monoculture
   • rely on monoculture

   A corn monoculture can exhaust the same nutrients every year.

   The valley shifted from mixed farms to a soybean monoculture.

2. 2nouncountable or uncountablefigurativedisapproving

   A situation in which one idea, culture, product, or way of thinking dominates and variety is reduced.

   Grammar: Often figurative and disapproving when criticizing lack of diversity.

   Patterns

   • corporate monoculture
   • media monoculture
   • intellectual monoculture

   She argued that a media monoculture narrows public debate.

   The startup feared a corporate monoculture where every product looked alike.

Word forms

Common combinations

crop monoculture

A crop monoculture may increase yield in the short term but raise pest risk.

soy monoculture

The soy monoculture replaced hedgerows and small woodland patches.

corporate monoculture

Critics said the merger encouraged a corporate monoculture of identical stores.

Synonyms and how they differ

single-cropping

Agricultural and narrower; it does not usually carry the figurative social criticism.

homogeneity

General noun for sameness; monoculture is more vivid and often negative.

Opposites

Word family

monocultural adjective

Relating to or dominated by a monoculture.

Commonly confused: monoculture or agriculture?

Practice

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