cosmopolite
Americannoun
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a person who is cosmopolitan in their ideas, life, etc.; citizen of the world.
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an animal or plant of worldwide distribution.
noun
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a less common word for cosmopolitan
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an animal or plant that occurs in most parts of the world
Other Word Forms
- cosmopolitism noun
- noncosmopolite noun
- noncosmopolitism noun
Etymology
Origin of cosmopolite
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Greek kosmopolī́tēs “citizen of the world,” equivalent to kosmo- cosmo- + polī́tēs “citizen” ( pól(is) “a city, state” + -ītēs -ite 1 )
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 cosmopolite respects and appreciates difference, while acknowledging that “no local loyalty can ever justify forgetting that each human being has responsibilities to every other.”
From Slate • Sep. 14, 2018
In an era when university art departments, like museums, tended to be divided into fiefs, each controlled by a specialist, Mr. Rosand, a genuine cosmopolite, walked a broad terrain.
From New York Times • Aug. 28, 2014
Our cultural anti-heroes are "poets unhoused and wanderers across language," contends Steiner, who is a cosmopolite himself, born in Paris of Austrian parents and educated in the United States as well as England.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the 1940s, Stravinsky, always a wandering cosmopolite, moved to Hollywood, near Schoenberg's home.
From Time Magazine Archive
A complete man is intellectually and physically a cosmopolite.
From The History of Dartmouth College by Smith, Baxter Perry
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.
