microcosm
[ mahy-kruh-koz-uhm ]
/ ˈmaɪ krəˌkɒz əm /
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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.
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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. 2022
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.