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culture shock
noun
- a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment.
culture shock
noun
- sociol the feelings of isolation, rejection, etc, experienced when one culture is brought into sudden contact with another, as when a primitive tribe is confronted by modern civilization
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Other Words From
- culture-shocked adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of culture shock1
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Idioms and Phrases
A state of confusion and anxiety experienced by someone upon encountering an alien environment. For example, It's not just jet lag—it's the culture shock of being in a new country . This term was first used by social scientists to describe, for example, the experience of a person moving from the country to a big city. It is now used more loosely, as in the example. [Late 1930s]Discover More
Example Sentences
Ophir, an American by birth, says he experienced a bit of a culture shock when he moved to Israel.
Upon joining the modern world, he was hit with horrendous culture shock (it was the mid-90s and he had never even seen a phone).
When did you start getting attention from guys, and was that a sort of a culture shock for you?
Moving from the West Bank to South Bend, Indiana—I imagine we're in for a big culture shock.
According to Chastain, moving across the country to New York City was “scary” and “a culture shock.”
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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