culture shock
noun
: a sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without adequate preparation
Examples of culture shock in a Sentence
Foreign students often experience culture shock when they first come to the U.S.
Moving to the city was a huge culture shock for him.
Recent Examples on the Web
So, stepping into the corporate world was a culture shock.
—
Kelly Stine, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025
The new media underground would come as a culture shock to the generation of Cronkites and Edward R. Murrows and their female counterparts – Walters, Connie Chung, Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey.
—Peter Bart, Deadline, 26 June 2025
Yes, travel often comes with delays, detours, lost luggage and even culture shock.
—Amy Poeppel, People.com, 11 June 2025
This helps explain the culture shock that runs through Hollywood memoirs by S. J. Perelman and others; they were used to making commercial art, but not to the brutal truths of American commerce being made so brutal.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for culture shock
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Kelly Stine, Forbes.com, 8 July 2025
The new media underground would come as a culture shock to the generation of Cronkites and Edward R. Murrows and their female counterparts – Walters, Connie Chung, Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey.
—Peter Bart, Deadline, 26 June 2025
Yes, travel often comes with delays, detours, lost luggage and even culture shock.
—Amy Poeppel, People.com, 11 June 2025
This helps explain the culture shock that runs through Hollywood memoirs by S. J. Perelman and others; they were used to making commercial art, but not to the brutal truths of American commerce being made so brutal.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for culture shock
Cite this Entry
“Culture shock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture%20shock. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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