low-context culture

noun

A culture in which communication tends to be explicit, with little reliance on context or shared understandings to convey meaning.

Meanings

nounlow-context culture (plural low-context cultures)

plural low-context cultures · alternative low context culture

  1. A culture in which communication tends to be explicit, with little reliance on context or shared understandings to convey meaning.

    The style in a high-context culture may appear to be indirect or inappropriate to someone from a low-context culture, and vice versa.

    2005, Yunxia Zhu, Written Communication Across Cultures, →ISBN, page 15
    2 more examples

    Persons socialized in low-context cultures (Americans, many Europeans) are more open and expressive and may find it difficult to take the perspective of their team members from high-context cultures

    2008, John F. Cragan, David W. Wright, Chris R. Kasch, Communication in Small Groups, →ISBN, page 145

    In advertising, argumentation and rhetoric are found more in low-context cultures, whereas advertising in high-context cultures is characterized by symbolism or indirect verbal expression.

    2013, Marieke de Mooij, Global Marketing and Advertising, →ISBN, page 85

Origin

Coined by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in his 1976 book Beyond Culture

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

low-context culture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/low-context%20culture

MLA

“low-context culture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/low-context%20culture. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “low-context culture,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/low-context%20culture.

Source: low-context culture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.