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microcosm

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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WOTD – 11 October 2011, 11 October 2012, 11 October 2013, 11 October 2014

Etymology

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From French microcosme, from Latin microcosmus, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) + κόσμος (kósmos, “universe, order”); micro- +‎ -cosm.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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microcosm (plural microcosms)

  1. Human nature or the human body as representative of the wider universe; man considered as a miniature counterpart of divine or universal nature. [from 15th c.]
    • 1972, Rolf Soellner, Shakespeare's Patterns of Self-Knowledge, Chapter 3: Microcosm and Macrocosm: Framing The Picture of Man, page 43:
      The Christian humanists were emphatic in their demand that a man who wishes to understand himself must realize that he is a little world that reflects on a smaller scale the larger world of the universe. […] On the other hand, the whole idea of man as a microcosm was questioned by those who were not in sympathy with the Christian humanists.
  2. (obsolete) The human body; a person. [17th–19th c.]
  3. A smaller system which is seen as representative of a larger one. [from 17th c.]
    Synonym: worldkin
    Coordinate terms: emblem; exemplar, example, representative; sample, specimen, sampler
    Near-synonyms: epitome, paradigm, model
    • 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “I. Introduction”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 19:
      With a few actors at his disposition he created a microcosm of life.
    • 1953 April, Henry Maxwell, “Abandoned Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 271:
      That short journey to Brighton was like a microcosm of the railway universe, embracing as it did a tunnel, a viaduct, two junctions, and two termini! Unfortunately, the route was far from direct.
    • 1999 December 16, Barry McIntyre, The Guardian:
      ‘In a sense, the problems experienced at Bristol are like a microcosm of what is happening in the NHS - experienced surgeons battling against difficult circumstances, with inadequate resources and in a culture where the finding of scapegoats appears to be put before the finding of solutions.’
    • 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎[1]:
      Steve Bruce's side have swung from highs to lows in what has been at best a wildly inconsistent start to the season. They experienced a microcosm of this within the opening 45 minutes at the Stadium of Light.
    • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 5:
      It should come as no surprise to see promotional material and bulletin boards in the department’s languages, though English is also present in the signage of this microcosm of the institution.
    • 2025 October 1, Richard Wilcock, “There is more to be proud of in the railway than we sometimes allow ourselves to see”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 40:
      The wider North West and Central Region is itself a microcosm of the industry's complexity. Covering the approaches to London Euston, stretching through Birmingham and the West Midlands, and reaching Manchester, Liverpool and beyond, it is a patchwork of overlapping markets, political geographies, and infrastructure types.
  4. (ecology) A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an experimental model. [from 19th c.]
    • 2009, Jerry C. Smrchek, Maurice G. Zeeman, Chapter 3: Assessing Risks to Ecological Systems from Chemicals, Peter P. Calow (editor), Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, page 53:
      The method is relatively labour intensive (24-30 microcosms are run) and more difficult to interpret when compared with other microcosm methods (Shannon et al. 1986; Cairns & Cherry 1993).

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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human nature or body as representative of the wider universe

Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French microcosme.

Noun

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microcosm n (plural (rare) microcosmuri)

  1. microcosm
    Antonyms: macrocosm, macrocosmos

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative microcosm microcosmul microcosmuri microcosmurile
genitive-dative microcosm microcosmului microcosmuri microcosmurilor
vocative microcosmule microcosmurilor
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