cultivate
KUL-tuh-vayt
/ˈkʌl.tɪ.veɪt/
To prepare and use land for crops or gardening; or to foster and develop a skill or relation.
Implies deliberate physical work, care, and labor applied to soil to yield agricultural products.
The story behind the word. From Medieval Latin 'cultivare', stemming from Latin 'colere' (to till or care for). This same root gave rise to words like culture, colony, and cult.
Word relationships
- till: Till focuses specifically on breaking up soil, while cultivate includes planting, nurturing, and growing.
- neglect: Neglect means leaving land unmanaged, wild, and uncultivated.
Commonly confused with
- harvest: Cultivate is the process of preparing and growing; harvest is collecting the mature crop.
Word family
- cultivation (noun): The action of cultivating land, or the state of being cultivated.
- cultivator (noun): A person or machine that prepares land for farming.
Collocations
- cultivate land
- cultivate crops
- cultivate relationships
- cultivate fields
Example sentences
- "Peasants worked tirelessly to cultivate wheat and barley on the lord's estate." Agrarian history
- "Indigenous societies managed and cultivated land using sophisticated rotational techniques." Social ecology
Memory hook
Cultivate = Care for crops in your agricultural culture. Colere = till and care for.
When not to use
Do not use for unmanaged wild ecosystems that grow naturally without human intervention.
Fun facts
- The English word 'culture' originally meant the cultivation of the soil before shifting to mean human intellectual development.
Related words
Also appears in
- Leadership → Mentorship & Guidance
- Nature → Flora, Botany & Plants
- Nature → Forestry & Agriculture
- Economic Theory & Analysis → Agrarian Economics
- Education & Pedagogy → Extracurricular & Enrichment
- Education & Pedagogy → Teacher Roles & Mentorship
- Environmental Policy & Sustainability Economics → Sustainable Agriculture & Farming
- Food Science & Culinary Craft → Organic Farming Practices
- Hobbies, Crafts & Leisure → Gardening & Houseplants
- Home & Domestic Life → Lawn Care & Landscaping
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