as in city
a thickly settled, highly populated area
a sprawling cosmopolis where ambitious people from all over come to make their fortune
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Recent Examples of cosmopolis
While Istanbul and Cappadocia are more popular with tourists to Turkey, don't miss the chance to explore Izmir, which was once the country's most thriving cosmopolis.
—
Lilit Marcus, CNN, 8 Oct. 2022
Istanbul is a cosmopolis unlike any other—where the remains of former empires, the cultural influences of multi-ethnic communities, and contemporary Turkish identity all exist in delicate harmony.
—Feride Yalav-Heckeroth, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 June 2022
On the Volga a quasi-capital rose at Sarai, established by Batu around 1250, and grew into a cosmopolis of artisans, farmers, and merchants from as far away as Syria, Egypt, even Greece—so many that a New Sarai was founded upriver.
—Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2021
For decades a symbol of all that was dead and dysfunctional in the ever-expanding cosmopolis, the river is undergoing its own rehabilitation, shedding some of its visible concrete.
—Alexandra Marshall, WSJ, 14 Aug. 2018
Lilit Marcus, CNN, 8 Oct. 2022
Istanbul is a cosmopolis unlike any other—where the remains of former empires, the cultural influences of multi-ethnic communities, and contemporary Turkish identity all exist in delicate harmony.
—Feride Yalav-Heckeroth, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 June 2022
On the Volga a quasi-capital rose at Sarai, established by Batu around 1250, and grew into a cosmopolis of artisans, farmers, and merchants from as far away as Syria, Egypt, even Greece—so many that a New Sarai was founded upriver.
—Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2021
For decades a symbol of all that was dead and dysfunctional in the ever-expanding cosmopolis, the river is undergoing its own rehabilitation, shedding some of its visible concrete.
—Alexandra Marshall, WSJ, 14 Aug. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cosmopolis
Noun
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In the show, Marshall says his father moved to Eerie to study it as the most normal city in the United States.—
Jenny Porter Tilley,
IndyStar,
27 Oct. 2025
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Originally an agricultural town, cemeteries began to take root in Colma after a 1901 ordinance banned new burials within San Francisco’s city limits, a decision driven by limited real estate and a booming population.—
Ryan Macasero,
Mercury News,
26 Oct. 2025
Noun
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His own work seethed with the gritty vernacular of the street, evoking the Sturm und Drang of the Midwestern metropolis.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
23 Oct. 2025
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Millennia from now, will urban legends describe the horrific disaster that destroyed the string of American metropolises along the Pacific coast, from Chief Seattle’s Town to the City of Angels?—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Your homes may have been damaged or destroyed and your communities and towns no longer look the same.—
Abigail Adams,
PEOPLE,
29 Oct. 2025
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Mulroney, who grew up in a small Quebec town, had an ideological affinity with the emerging trends of privatization and deregulation in 1980s Anglo-American conservatism.—
Dónal Gill,
The Dial,
28 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cosmopolis.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cosmopolis. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.
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