What does acculturate mean?
Acculturate is a verb meaning to adopt or adapt to the cultural traits of another group, usually as a result of prolonged contact between societies. It can be used intransitively — immigrants may acculturate to their new country over time — or transitively, as when an organization seeks to acculturate newcomers to its values. The word belongs primarily to formal contexts: sociology, anthropology, psychology, and policy discussions of migration and integration. Its connotations are largely neutral; unlike assimilate, which can suggest the erosion of one's original identity, acculturating emphasizes acquiring new customs while not necessarily abandoning old ones. The term derives from Latin roots relating to cultivation and refinement, reflecting the idea that culture is something learned rather than inherited. Related forms include acculturation, the noun for the process itself, and acculturative, an adjective describing factors tied to that process. For anyone writing about cross-cultural experience, acculturate offers a precise, respectful way to describe how people learn to live within a culture other than their own.
verbTo adopt or adjust to the cultural traits, customs, and norms of another group or society, typically through prolonged contact; also, to cause someone or something to undergo this process.
- (intransitive) To adapt to or take on the customs, values, and behaviors of a different culture through sustained contact.
- (transitive) To cause a person or group to acquire the cultural traits of another society.
"It took the refugees several years to fully acculturate to their new country."
"Second-generation immigrants often acculturate faster than their parents."
"The program was designed to acculturate new employees to the company's collaborative values."
Every immigrant who learns a new language, adopts new customs, and still keeps their own traditions at home is living proof that you can acculturate without erasing who you were.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of acculturate
Acculturate comes from the Latin verb colere, meaning to cultivate, inhabit, or honor, whose past participle cultus gave English the noun culture. The word was formed by adding the prefix ac- (a variant of ad-, 'toward') to culture, yielding a sense of moving toward another culture. It emerged in English in the late nineteenth century alongside the rise of modern anthropology and sociology, when scholars needed precise vocabulary to describe how individuals and groups absorb cultural traits from one another. Its relatives include cultivate, cult, and colony — all descendants of the same productive Latin root.
Related word forms
How acculturate is actually used
Formal register, common in sociology, anthropology, psychology, and academic writing about immigration. Often used intransitively with 'to' (acculturate to a new environment). Unlike 'assimilate', it does not imply loss of original identity, so it carries a more neutral or even positive connotation in discussions of multiculturalism.
Easily confused with acculturate
Acclimate means adjusting mainly to physical conditions such as climate or altitude, whereas acculturate refers specifically to adapting to a different culture.
Assimilate implies fully absorbing into and losing one's distinct identity within a group, while acculturate emphasizes adopting new cultural traits without necessarily abandoning one's own.