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multicultural

multicultural

38 3.8
Having people from many countries and backgrounds living and working together
  • adjective
  • /ˌmʌltiˈkʌltʃərəl/
translation icon : multicultural
  • As a multicultural city, New York celebrates a variety of cultural festivals throughout the year.
  • multicultural education
  • multicultural competency
  • multicultural awareness

the United States is a multicultural nation.

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Examples

  • What does it mean to conduct research on learning disabilities in a multicultural society?

    Academic text (2011)
  • So I mean, Malaysia is a truly multicultural country.

  • the United States is a multicultural nation.

  • How on earth am I going to talk to a multicultural football team in this way?

  • And my family itself is multicultural.

  • The presence of a language barrier can be a key challenge to working in multicultural areas.

    Academic text (2011)
  • That's why multicultural teams make so much sense to me.

  • MIT is a hugely multicultural institution.

  • The need for multicultural competency education in this rapidly diversifying world is hard to dispute.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Revolutions in farming led to massive food surpluses, which in turn allowed for these huge, bustling, multicultural cities.

Synonyms

pluralistic
vsmulticultural
9 7.3

Accepting and respecting many different groups and beliefs

focuses on the simple presence of different cultural groups, not on coexistence rules
multiethnic
vsmulticultural
6 3.8

Having people from different cultures living together

emphasizes cultural group variety broadly rather than strictly ethnic categories
intercultural
vsmulticultural
3 4.1

About contact between people from different cultures

is broader, noting several cultural groups without focusing on interaction
transcultural
vsmulticultural
1 7.5

Connecting people or ideas from more than one culture

is about involving several cultural groups rather than crossing cultural boundaries
cross-cultural
vsmulticultural
1 4.3

Involving people from two or more different cultures

is about presence or involvement of several cultural groups rather than comparison
interethnic
vsmulticultural
1 5.7

Involving people from different racial or cultural groups

is about multiple cultural groups in general, not only ethnic relations
multi-ethnic
vsmulticultural
3.7

Having people from different ethnic groups living or working together

refers to cultural diversity more generally, not only differences by ethnicity
polyethnic
vsmulticultural
7.4

Having people from several different ethnic groups

highlights cultural variety across groups rather than focusing solely on ethnicity

Antonyms

uniformity
  • Specialized
18 4.6

The state of being the same in all parts

Not having many different kinds of people or views in a group

Compounds

An academic way of studying how class, culture, and identity connect by looking at power and the economy

9.9

A political insult used to say diversity policies follow a left agenda

A show that presents music, dance, and drama from different cultures

A group of employees from different countries and cultures who are in the same company

How Multicultural

cosmopolitan
  • Specialized
14 5.5
multicultural
38 3.8
bicultural
1 5.0
monocultural
1 7.0

Surface Forms

multicultural positive

Morphology

multicultural = cultural (transparent) = multi + culture + al

The meaning is straightforwardly built from 'multi-' meaning several and 'cultural' meaning relating to culture.

Etymology

Multicultural comes from the parts multi- meaning 'many' (as in multiple) and culture meaning 'the way of life or customs of a group'. So a multicultural place has many different cultures living together, with different foods, festivals, and traditions.