Cultivated

How to spell cultivated

10 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce cultivated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cultivated mean?

1. adjectiveHaving or showing refined taste, manners, or education.
2. verbPrepared and used land for crops, or developed something through careful attention; the past tense of cultivate.

Cultivated in a sentence

• adjective

  Her cultivated taste in music impressed the whole panel.

• verb

  The family had cultivated this valley for three generations.

• adjective

  He spoke in a calm, cultivated manner during the interview.

• verb

  Over the years she cultivated strong contacts across the industry.

Where does cultivated come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb colere, which meant to till the soil, to tend, or even to worship, and which gave Latin the noun cultus for tilling and care. From cultus came the Medieval Latin verb cultivare, meaning to till or to prepare ground for crops. French took this up as cultiver, and English borrowed the form in the early 1600s as cultivate, first in the literal farming sense of working the land. The figurative sense, improving the mind, manners, or a friendship through careful attention, grew naturally from the image of patient gardening. The same colere root also underlies the familiar words culture, agriculture, and colony, which is a useful reminder that the spelling keeps the cult- core rather than the sound it makes.

How the word is built

• cult- (from Latin colere: to till, tend)
• -iv- (relating to)
• -ate (verb)
• -ed (past tense/adjective suffix)