microcosm
[ mahy-kruh-koz-uhm ]
/ ˈmaɪ krəˌkɒz əm /
Save This Word!
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.
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?
Also called mi·cro·cos·mos [mahy-kruh-koz-muhs, -mohs]. /ˌmaɪ krəˈkɒz məs, -moʊs/.
Origin of microcosm
OTHER WORDS FROM microcosm
mi·cro·cos·mic, mi·cro·cos·mi·cal, adjectiveDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use microcosm in a sentence
Table of correspondences between microcosmos and things on earth, and the planets, 127.
The Magic of the Middle Ages|Viktor RydbergThus the simple image of decoration is destroyed, and a microcosmos is created in its place.
Modern Painting, Its Tendency and Meaning|Willard Huntington WrightThus man with his dualistic soul is a microcosmos, born from the Macrocosmos spontaneously.
The Evolution of Modern Medicine|William Osler
British Dictionary definitions for microcosm
microcosm
microcosmos (ˌmaɪkrəʊˈkɒzmɒs)
/ (ˈmaɪkrəʊˌkɒzəm) /
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
Compare macrocosm
Derived forms of microcosm
microcosmic or microcosmical, adjectiveWord 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
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for microcosm
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.