'Cultivate' definitions:
Definition of 'cultivate'
From: WordNet
verb
Foster the growth of
verb
verb
Teach or refine to be discriminative in taste or judgment; "Cultivate your musical taste"; "Train your tastebuds"; "She is well schooled in poetry" [syn: educate, school, train, cultivate, civilize, civilise]
verb
Adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment; "domesticate oats"; "tame the soil" [syn: domesticate, cultivate, naturalize, naturalise, tame]
Definition of 'Cultivate'
From: GCIDE
- Cultivate \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. Colony.]
- 1. To bestow attention, care, and labor upon, with a view to valuable returns; to till; to fertilize; as, to cultivate soil. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To direct special attention to; to devote time and thought to; to foster; to cherish. [1913 Webster]
- Leisure . . . to cultivate general literature. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To seek the society of; to court intimacy with. [1913 Webster]
- I ever looked on Lord Keppel as one of the greatest and best men of his age; and I loved and cultivated him accordingly. --Burke. [1913 Webster]
- 4. To improve by labor, care, or study; to impart culture to; to civilize; to refine. [1913 Webster]
- To cultivate the wild, licentious savage. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- The mind of man hath need to be prepared for piety and virtue; it must be cultivated to the end. --Tillotson. [1913 Webster]
- 5. To raise or produce by tillage; to care for while growing; as, to cultivate corn or grass. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'cultivate'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- advance,
- ameliorate,
- apprentice,
- approach,
- backset,
- beautify,
- better,
- break,
- break in,
- break the ice,
- breed,
- bring up,
- brown-nose,
- butter up,
- care for,
- carve,
- cherish,
- chisel,
- coddle,
- condition,
- convert,
- cosset,
- court,
- courteous,
- cradle,
- crop,
- cultivated,
- culture,
- cultured,
- cut,
- delve,
- develop,
- dig,
- discipline,
- distingue,
- dress,
- drill,
- dry-nurse,
- educate,
- elaborate,
- embellish,
- encourage,
- evolve,
- excite,
- exercise,
- extract,
- fallow,
- farm,
- feed,
- fertilize,
- fetch up,
- finish,
- fit,
- fondle,
- force,
- form,
- foster,
- further,
- groom,
- grow,
- harrow,
- harvest,
- hoe,
- house-train,
- housebreak,
- improve,
- instruct,
- labor,
- lavish care on,
- lick into shape,
- list,
- machine,
- make advances,
- make sensitive,
- make up to,
- manage,
- mature,
- mill,
- mine,
- mother,
- mulch,
- nourish,
- nurse,
- nurture,
- pamper,
- pay addresses to,
- pay court to,
- perfect,
- play up to,
- plow,
- polish,
- polished,
- polite,
- practice,
- prepare,
- process,
- produce,
- promote,
- propagate,
- prune,
- pump,
- put in tune,
- put to school,
- quicken,
- raise,
- rake,
- ready,
- rear,
- refine,
- refined,
- rehearse,
- ripen,
- run after,
- season,
- send to school,
- sensibilize,
- sensitize,
- sharpen,
- shine up to,
- smelt,
- spade,
- spoon-feed,
- stimulate,
- stir,
- suck up to,
- suckle,
- sustain,
- take in hand,
- teach,
- tend,
- thin,
- thin out,
- till,
- till the soil,
- train,
- urbane,
- weed,
- weed out,
- well-bred,
- wet-nurse,
- whet,
- woo,
- work,
- work on