microcosm
noun
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Small wonder that the oldest meaning of microcosm in our dictionary is “little world”: the word comes ultimately from the Greek phrase mikros kosmos, meaning “little universe.” That meaning can be applied to many a wee realm, as in “the microcosm of the atom,” but microcosm was originally used by medieval scholars specifically to refer to humans as miniature embodiments of the natural universe. Microcosm soon expanded to refer to places (such as neighborhoods or other communities) thought to embody at a small scale characteristics of larger places, and later to anything serving as an apt representation of something bigger—as when Arthur C. Clarke, famed author of much fiction and nonfiction set in the cosmos, noted that “a sunken ship is a microcosm of the civilization that launched it.”
Examples of microcosm in a Sentence
Errol Schweizer, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2025
The 93 winners of the Best Animated Short Oscar are a microcosm of the history of world animation.
—Jeremy Fassler, Vulture, 2 Mar. 2025
The stars and behind-the-scenes creatives describe the police station featured in the show as a microcosm of people with different experiences and life stories.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2025
As such, they are sometimes held up as a microcosm showing the impact of liberal versus conservative policies across the nation.
—Kristan Hawkins, Newsweek, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for microcosm
Cite this Entry
“Microcosm.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/microcosm. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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microcosm
noun
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