cultivate

  • 1Cultivate — Cul ti*vate (k?l t? v?t), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cultivated} ( v? t?d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cultivating} ( v? t?ng).] [LL. cultivatus, p. p. of cultivare to cultivate, fr. cultivus cultivated, fr. L. cultus, p. p. of colere to till, cultivate. Cf.… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2cultivate — cul‧ti‧vate [ˈkʌltveɪt] verb [transitive] 1. FARMING to prepare and use land for growing crops and plants: • Some of the land would be impossible to cultivate. 2. to develop a particular skill or quality in yourself: • The company has been… …

    Financial and business terms

  • 3cultivate — [v1] develop land for growing breed, crop, dress, farm, fertilize, garden, harvest, labor, manage, mature, plant, plow, prepare, propagate, raise, ripen, seed, tend, till, work; concepts 253,257 Ant. destroy, ignore, neglect cultivate [v2] enrich …

    New thesaurus

  • 4cultivate — [kul′tə vāt΄] vt. cultivated, cultivating [< ML cultivatus, pp. of cultivare < LL cultivus, tilled < L cultus: see CULT] 1. to prepare and use (soil or land) for growing crops; till 2. to break up the surface soil around (plants) in… …

    English World dictionary

  • 5cultivate — I verb advance, colere, develop, elevate, enrich, farm, forward, foster, further, garden, improve, make better, nourish, nurture, polish, prepare for crops, promote, rarefy, refine, till, train, work II index ameliorate, cause, develop …

    Law dictionary

  • 6cultivate — (v.) early 17c., from M.L. cultivatus, pp. of cultivare, from L.L. cultivus tilled, from L. cultus (see CULT (Cf. cult)). Figurative sense of improve by training or education is from 1680s. Related: Cultivable; cultivated; cultivating …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 7cultivate — nurture, *nurse, foster, cherish Analogous words: develop, *mature, ripen: raise, rear (see LIFT): educate, train, instruct, *teach: *improve, better, ameliorate Contrasted words: *neglect, ignore, disregard, slight …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 8cultivate — ► VERB 1) prepare and use (land) for crops or gardening. 2) raise or grow (plants or crops). 3) grow or maintain (living cells or tissue) in an artificial medium containing nutrients. 4) try to acquire or develop (a quality or skill). 5) try to… …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9cultivate — 01. They [cultivate] grapes for making excellent wine in many parts of the Okanagan. 02. It is the job of a parent to [cultivate] a sense of self confidence in children. 03. Boris Yeltsin [cultivated] Vladimir Putin as his successor as the leader …

    Grammatical examples in English

  • 10cultivate — [[t]kʌ̱ltɪveɪt[/t]] cultivates, cultivating, cultivated 1) VERB If you cultivate land or crops, you prepare land and grow crops on it. [V n] She also cultivated a small garden of her own. [V ed] ...the few patches of cultivated land. Derived… …

    English dictionary