microcosm
a little world; a world in miniature (opposed to macrocosm): The human body is a microcosm.
anything regarded as a representative, miniature version of a larger complex reality: The fictional small town of Black Rock, California, serves as a microcosm of America in the postwar era.
Environmental Science. a controlled experimental environment or ecosystem small enough to be housed in a laboratory and reproducing conditions that occur on a larger scale in the outdoors: Researchers have investigated the survival of this bacteria in saline solutions and seawater in laboratory microcosms.: Compare mesocosm.
human beings, humanity, society, or the like, viewed as an epitome or miniature of the world or universe: In the human microcosm, intellect is the deep spiritual center of being.
Origin of microcosm
1- Also called mi·cro·cos·mos [mahy-kruh-koz-muhs, -mohs]. /ˌmaɪ krəˈkɒz məs, -moʊs/.
Other words from microcosm
- mi·cro·cos·mic [mahy-kruh-koz-mik], /ˌmaɪ krəˈkɒz mɪk/, mi·cro·cos·mi·cal, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use microcosm in a sentence
“Delaware is a microcosm of the country as a whole,” Russ says.
Lovely, little Delaware — long famous for corporations, chickens and credit cards — is ready for its big moment | Karen Heller | January 12, 2021 | Washington PostYou could argue that its evolution is a microcosm of what’s happening in West Virginia at large.
In Brazil, there was a microcosmic slice of the kind of public role he is attempting to carve.
Prince Harry Should Be King: The Royal Family’s Ace Card | Tim Teeman | June 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTLiterature is essentially a niche interest, and, as such, is subject to its own microcosmic fads.
Famous for Not Being Famous: Enough About ‘Stoner’ | Drew Smith | October 31, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe oxide of niobium dissolved in a bead of microcosmic salt gives a bluish colour in the reducing flame.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. | Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer
Heat the substance with a bead of microcosmic salt or borax on a platinum wire in the oxidizing flame.
He is determined to tell the truth of our microcosmic baseness.
Egoists | James HunekerMany of the silicates give with borax a clear bead, while they form with microcosmic salt an opalescent one.
Fused with borax, soda, or microcosmic salt, they give a clear bead.
British Dictionary definitions for microcosm
microcosmos (ˌmaɪkrəʊˈkɒzmɒs)
/ (ˈmaɪkrəʊˌkɒzəm) /
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
Origin of microcosm
1- Compare macrocosm
Derived forms of microcosm
- microcosmic or microcosmical, adjective
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
Cultural 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.
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