noun a little world; a world in miniature (opposed to macrocosm ). anything that is regarded as a world in miniature.
human beings, humanity, society, or the like, viewed as an epitome or miniature of the world or universe.
Origin of microcosm 1150–1200; Middle English microcosme <
Medieval Latin mīcrocosmus <
Greek mīkròs kósmos small world. See
micro- ,
cosmos Also called
mi·cro·cos·mos [mahy-kruh -koz -muh s, -mohs] /ˌmaɪ krəˈkɒz məs, -moʊs/ .
Related forms mi·cro·cos·mic , mi·cro·cos·mi·cal , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for microcosm But what happens at Winchester University is a microcosm of the cruel world beyond its be-crested gates.
I begin to observe that it sounds as if Sully is in microcosm what Newman himself…but that is as far as I get.
Altogether, the monks, the Dukes, and the winemakers created a microcosm the influence of which can still be felt today.
Or a microcosm of the debate that has consumed the nation and a harbinger of what is to come?
Think of these two episodes as a microcosm of the state of housing in this great city.
Each man's macrocosm is apt to be related to his microcosm , as the convex to the concave of a curve.
Their organisation was a microcosm of that of the entire Empire.
Man is a microcosm , that is, a little world, and therefore he doth command all other living creatures and they obey him.
The engineer was to them a microcosm , a compound of every science, a possessor of all human knowledge.
It is, as he admits, an audacious proposal to pit the microcosm against the macrocosm.
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British Dictionary definitions for microcosm
microcosm microcosmos (ˌmaɪkrəʊˈkɒzmɒs )
noun a miniature representation of something, esp a unit, group, or place regarded as a copy of a larger one
man regarded as epitomizing the universe
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Derived Forms microcosmic or microcosmical , adjective Word Origin for microcosm C15: via Medieval Latin from Greek mikros kosmos little world
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for microcosm n. c.1200, mycrocossmos (modern form from early 15c.), "human nature, man viewed as the epitome of creation," literally "miniature world," from Middle French microcosme and in earliest use directly from Medieval Latin microcosmus , from Greek mikros "small" (see mica ) + kosmos "world" (see cosmos ). General sense of "a community constituting a world unto itself" is attested from 1560s. Related: Microcosmic . A native expression in the same sense was petty world (c.1600).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Culture definitions for microcosm A representation of something on a much smaller scale. Microcosm means “small world,” and in the thought of the Renaissance , it was applied specifically to human beings, who were considered to be small-scale models of the universe, with all its variety and contradiction. (Compare macrocosm .)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
