Cultivate

//ˈkʌltɪveɪt// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To grow plants, notably crops.

    "Most farmers in this region cultivate maize."

  2. 2
    adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment wordnet
  3. 3
    To nurture; to foster; to tend. figuratively

    "They tried to cultivate an interest in learning among their students."

  4. 4
    prepare for crops wordnet
  5. 5
    To turn or stir soil in preparation for planting or as a method of weed control between growing crop plants.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment wordnet
  2. 7
    promote the growth of wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
educateadvanceameliorateapprenticeapproachbackset

Antonyms

All antonyms
spoil

Example

More examples

"Picture books will cultivate the minds of children."

Etymology

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”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.