Enculturation
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The process by which a person adopts the behaviour patterns of the culture in which they are immersed (or born). countable, uncountable
"More specifically, enculturation is the process by which the individual through informal and nonformal modes of cultural transmission learns the language, the technological, socioeconomic, ideational, as well as the cognitive and emotional patterns of culture. It is a lifelong learning process that lasts from an individual’s infancy to adulthood and “which can be said to end only with his death” (ibid., p. 40)."
- 2 the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture wordnet
Example
More examples"More specifically, enculturation is the process by which the individual through informal and nonformal modes of cultural transmission learns the language, the technological, socioeconomic, ideational, as well as the cognitive and emotional patterns of culture. It is a lifelong learning process that lasts from an individual’s infancy to adulthood and “which can be said to end only with his death” (ibid., p. 40)."
Etymology
From en- + culture + -ation.
More for "enculturation"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.