Meanings
plural low-context cultures · alternative low context culture
- 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 152 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 145In 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
low-context culture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/low-context%20culture
“low-context culture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/low-context%20culture. Accessed November 5, 2026.
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.