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
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 )
Vocabulary lists containing cosmopolite
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
As a matter of fact, Vassarette McAfee is something of an academic cosmopolite.
From Time Magazine Archive
Anatomist Othmar Solnitzky, wiry little cosmopolite director of the Institute sent out a call to all lands and peoples for collectors' items which he may slice exceedingly thin and map at his leisure.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet is there a much smaller proportion of cosmopolite species among the Algæ than among the terrestrial cellular plants, such as lichens, mosses, and Hepaticæ.
From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Sir Charles Lyell
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.
