cultivate
/'kʌltiveit/
Definition
- Verb (Transitive):
- To prepare and use land for growing crops: The primary meaning, referring to the agricultural process of tilling, planting, and tending to soil and plants.
- To grow or nurture a plant: To care for and encourage the development of a specific plant or crop.
- To develop or improve something by careful attention, training, or study: To foster the growth of a skill, quality, relationship, or habit through deliberate effort.
- To seek to develop a friendship or acquaintance with someone: To try to gain the friendship or support of a person, often with a specific purpose.
Examples of Usage
- Verb:
- The farmers cultivate wheat and corn on these fields. (Agricultural use)
- She successfully cultivated rare orchids in her greenhouse. (Nurturing plants)
- He reads daily to cultivate a love for literature. (Developing a quality)
- As a diplomat, she knew how to cultivate useful contacts. (Developing relationships)
Advanced Usage
- "to cultivate an image": To carefully create and maintain a particular public perception.
- The politician worked hard to cultivate an image of integrity.
- "cultivated taste": Refined or educated appreciation, especially in the arts or manners.
- Her cultivated taste in wine was evident from her choices.
Variants and Related Words
- Cultivation (n): The action of cultivating land or the process of developing a skill or quality.
- The cultivation of rice requires a lot of water.
- Cultivator (n): A person or a machine that cultivates land.
- He used a mechanical cultivator to prepare the soil.
- Cultivable / Cultivatable (adj): (Of land) suitable for cultivation.
- They searched for cultivable land in the valley.
Synonyms
- Farm, till, work: (For land)
- Grow, nurture, tend: (For plants)
- Develop, foster, refine, train: (For skills or qualities)
- Court, pursue, seek: (For relationships)
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Cultivate" is not commonly used with particles to form standard phrasal verbs. Its meanings are typically expressed directly.)
Related Idioms
- "To cultivate one's garden": This idiom, popularized by Voltaire's , means to focus on improving one's own immediate situation and responsibilities rather than being preoccupied with larger, unsolvable world problems.
- After years of activism, he decided to retreat and simply cultivate his garden.
Verb
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adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment
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domesticate oats
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tame the soil
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teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment
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Cultivate your musical taste
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Train your tastebuds
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She is well schooled in poetry
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prepare for crops
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Work the soil
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cultivate the land
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foster the growth of
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