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  • cosmos
    cosmos
    noun
    the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system.
  • Cosmos
    Cosmos
    noun
    astronautics any of various types of Soviet satellite, including Cosmos 1 (launched 1962) and nearly 2000 subsequent satellites
Synonyms

cosmos

American  
[koz-mohs, -muhs] / ˈkɒz moʊs, -məs /

noun

cosmoses plural
  1. the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system.

  2. a complete, orderly, harmonious system.

  3. order; harmony.

  4. any composite plant of the genus Cosmos, of tropical America, some species of which, as C. bipannatus and C. sulphureus, are cultivated for their showy ray flowers.

  5. (initial capital letter) Also Kosmos. one of a long series of Soviet satellites that have been launched into orbit around the earth.


Cosmos 1 British  
/ ˈkɒzmɒs /

noun

  1. astronautics any of various types of Soviet satellite, including Cosmos 1 (launched 1962) and nearly 2000 subsequent satellites

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cosmos 2 British  
/ ˈkɒzmɒs /

noun

  1. the world or universe considered as an ordered system

  2. any ordered system

  3. harmony; order

  4. any tropical American plant of the genus Cosmos, cultivated as garden plants for their brightly coloured flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

cosmos Scientific  
/ kŏzməs,kŏzmōs′ /
  1. The universe, especially when considered as an orderly and harmonious whole.


Usage

What is the cosmos flower? A cosmos is a flower with brightly colored, raylike petals. The name cosmos can be used for any plant in the genus Cosmos. The plural can be cosmos or cosmoses. Cosmoses are popular in gardens. Two of the best-known species are Cosmos bipannatus and Cosmos sulphureus (known as sulphur cosmos), both of which are cultivated for their flowers. Cosmos flowers vary widely in color. Varieties include yellow, orange, pink, and purple. In some varieties, the petals are notched at the tips. Cosmos are one of the October birth flowers (a flower that’s associated with a particular month in the same way as a birthstone). Example: The display at the botanical garden featured flashy orange cosmoses.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of cosmos

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English, from Greek kósmos “order, form, arrangement, the world or universe”

Explanation

The cosmos is the sum total of everything — pretty big. It's hard to wrap your mind around the cosmos, as it extends far beyond the Milky Way, or far-off galaxies, or even our own universe. Cosmos is originally a Greek word, meaning both "order" and "world," because the ancient Greeks thought that the world was perfectly harmonious and impeccably put in order. We now use cosmos without the idea of perfect order. Now it means, "all of creation," and particularly on the scale of the stars, the planets, the black holes, the other universes, and all the stuff we don't know about. It's also, totally separately, the name of a pretty, flowering Mexican herb.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing cosmos

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The accompanying Cosmos software allows customers to run diagnostics and telemetry to check on their systems, Mohan added.

From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026

Commisso owned the Cosmos, the former club of Brazilian football legend Pele, from 2017 to 2025.

From Barron's • Jan. 17, 2026

The case involving the California crypto entrepreneur who needed coding help got rolling in 2021 when the businessman, Zaki Manian, was hired to build a blockchain called Cosmos Hub.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 25, 2025

Pele's Cosmos won 3-2 but the three-time Brazilian World Cup winner did not score.

From BBC • Sep. 26, 2024

In discussing the large-scale structure of the Cosmos, astronomers are fond of saying that space is curved, or that there is no center to the Cosmos, or that the universe is finite but unbounded.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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