Definition of microcosm
in microcosm
: in a greatly diminished size, form, or scale
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Examples of microcosm in a Sentence
The village is a microcosm of the whole country.
The game was a microcosm of the entire season.
Recent Examples of microcosm from the Web
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His neighbors are a microcosm of the city’s growing diversity: a black-white couple with kids, a family of Middle Eastern descent, a white-Asian family, a black couple.
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Those tumultuous four days in April served as a microcosm of an often torturous 18-year pursuit of a first major championship.
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On Tuesday, their San Diego Section Division I fourth-round game was a microcosm of this season.
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In many ways, the 34th District is a microcosm of Los Angeles.
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Underneath the dangerous acrobatics, which leave the unlucky either killed, electrocuted or maimed, Casino found a microcosm of the nation’s stratified society.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'microcosm'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
A microcosm is a "little world" - "mikros kosmos" in Greek. The Greek term was modified to "microcosmus" in Medieval Latin. When early medieval scholars referred to humans as miniature embodiments of the natural universe, they either employed the Latin word microcosmus or they used the English translation, "less world." "Man is callyd the lasse worlde, for he shewyth in hymselfe lyknesse of all the worlde," wrote John Trevisa when he translated the Latin text of Bartholomaeus Anglicus’ encyclopedia in the 14th century. But by the 15th century scholars had adopted an anglicized version of the Latin word, the word we use today - "microcosm."
Origin and Etymology of microcosm
Middle English, from Medieval Latin microcosmus, modification of Greek mikros kosmos
MICROCOSM Defined for English Language Learners
microcosm
playDefinition of microcosm for English Language Learners
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: something (such as a place or an event) that is seen as a small version of something much larger
Learn More about microcosm
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Spanish Central: Translation of microcosm Nglish: Translation of microcosm for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of microcosm for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about microcosm
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