cosmopolitan

[koz-muh-pol-i-tn]

adjective

1. free from local, provincial, or national ideas, prejudices, or attachments; at home all over the world.

   Synonyms: worldly, urbane, sophisticated
   Antonyms: parochial, provincial

2. of or characteristic of a cosmopolite.

3. belonging to all the world; not limited to just one part of the world.

4. Botany, Zoology.,  widely distributed over the globe.

noun

1. a person who is free from local, provincial, or national bias or attachment; citizen of the world; cosmopolite.

2. a cocktail made with vodka, cranberry juice, an orange-flavored liqueur, and lime juice.

cosmopolitan

/ ˌkɒzməˈpɒlɪtən /

noun

1. a person who has lived and travelled in many countries, esp one who is free of national prejudices

adjective

1. having interest in or familiar with many parts of the world

2. sophisticated or urbane

3. composed of people or elements from all parts of the world or from many different spheres

4. (of plants or animals) widely distributed

Other Word Forms

• cosmopolitanism noun
• cosmopolitanly adverb
• noncosmopolitan adjective
• uncosmopolitan adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cosmopolitan¹

First recorded in 1835–45; cosmopolite + -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of cosmopolitan¹

C17: from French, ultimately from Greek kosmopolitēs, from kosmo- _cosmo- + politēs citizen

Example Sentences

They were served by a cosmopolitan retinue: Sri Lankan singers, Arab managers, European chefs and always Afghan workers in a multitude of indispensable roles.

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Dalia may reside in cosmopolitan London but is, of course, miserable, with wise old Igor immediately diagnosing the cause of her malaise.

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He notes that such a city “will continue to be cosmopolitan unless and until it loses its status.”

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It would be a beginning of rupture of the age-old pact between the world’s most cosmopolitan city and the people of the Book.

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Because, let’s face it, who can resist a cosmopolitan city with 24 miles of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, a dynamic dining scene and arts and culture aplenty.

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Related Words

• cultured 
• metropolitan 
• sophisticated 
• urbane 
• worldly