- 1cultivate something to prepare and use land for growing plants or crops The land around here has never been cultivated. Wordfinderfarmarable, barn, crop, cultivate, dairy, fallow, farm, graze, livestock, tractor Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbintensively See full entry See related entries: Growing crops
- 2cultivate something to grow plants or crops synonym grow The people cultivate mainly rice and beans. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbwidely, successfully See full entry See related entries: Growing crops
- 3cultivate somebody/something (sometimes disapproving) to try to get somebody’s friendship or support He purposely tried to cultivate good relations with the press. It helps if you go out of your way to cultivate the local people. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbactively, assiduously, carefully, … See full entry
- 4cultivate something to develop an attitude, a way of talking or behaving, etc. She cultivated an air of sophistication. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbactively, assiduously, carefully, … See full entry Word Originmid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin cultivat- ‘prepared for crops’, from the verb cultivare, from cultiva (terra) ‘arable (land)’, from colere ‘cultivate, inhabit’.Extra examples Olives have been cultivated successfully in southern Australia. The land here has been intensively cultivated for generations. This modern image is actively cultivated by the company.
cultivate
verbBrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪt//
(formal)Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they cultivate BrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪt//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪt//
he / she / it cultivates BrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪts//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪts//
past simple cultivated BrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd//
past participle cultivated BrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪd//
-ing form cultivating BrE BrE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkʌltɪveɪtɪŋ//
Growing cropsCheck pronunciation: cultivate
