Link Centre Dictionary

cultivate

cul·ti·vate

UK/ˈkʌltɪvɛjt/ US/ˈkʌltɪveɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

foster the growth of

2.

prepare for crops

  • “Work the soil”
  • “cultivate the land”
Synonyms
3.

train to be discriminative in taste or judgment

  • “Cultivate your musical taste”
  • “Train your tastebuds”
  • “She is well schooled in poetry”
Synonyms
4.

adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment

  • “domesticate oats”
  • “tame the soil”
Synonyms

Origin

From Medieval Latin cultivātus, perfect passive participle of cultivō (“till, cultivate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from cultīvus (“tilled”), from Latin cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate”), which comes from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Cognates include Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō) and Sanskrit चरति (cárati). The same Proto-Indo-European root also gave Latin in-quil-īnus (“inhabitant”) and anculus (“servant”).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.