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
Jorge L. Ortiz, USA Today, 6 May 2025
The five-acre parcel is a sort of microcosm of the area, which sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge and Southwest Mountains and is considered the Piedmont region.
—Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 28 Apr. 2025
But in recent months, the city of 45,000 has become a reluctant microcosm of the larger battle playing out, in which a shortage of 70,000 houses, apartments and condos in metro Denver has kept home prices high.
—John Aguilar, Denver Post, 13 Apr. 2025
But Wisconsin is more like a microcosm of our national politics.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 21 Mar. 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 20 May. 2025.
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microcosm
noun
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