as in sophisticated
having a wide and refined knowledge of the world especially from personal experience
a college student who now seems conspicuously cosmopolitan after spending his junior year abroad
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in sophisticate
a person with the outlook, experience, and manners thought to be typical of big city dwellers
as someone who had lived in Paris for a year as an exchange student, she seemed very much the cosmopolitan to her old classmates
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cosmopolitan
Jason Bittel, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Indeed, in many ways, West’s performatively anti-white, unpatriotic, and cosmopolitan version of polyamory is the blue-state mirror image of tradwifery, which, in its various forms, can fetishize whiteness, nostalgic Americana, and (often Christian) nationalism.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2026
Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
The adjective cosmopolitan only begins to describe Sajet, who has had important life experiences on four continents.
—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cosmopolitan
Adjective
This cosmopolitan attitude toward food allows rats to survive on ships and wherever those ships eventually land.
—Jason Bittel, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Indeed, in many ways, West’s performatively anti-white, unpatriotic, and cosmopolitan version of polyamory is the blue-state mirror image of tradwifery, which, in its various forms, can fetishize whiteness, nostalgic Americana, and (often Christian) nationalism.
—Tyler Austin Harper, The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2026
Noun
If top-level soccer is now played by something like rootless cosmopolitans, it’s financed by billionaires who are no longer primarily European.
—Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026
The adjective cosmopolitan only begins to describe Sajet, who has had important life experiences on four continents.
—Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cosmopolitan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cosmopolitan
Adjective
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Born from the embers of the eighties band Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, led by the singer and guitarist Amelia Fletcher, shuffled forward with her riffy, effervescent playing style, gradually growing more sophisticated across four LPs and an EP, without any loss of buoyancy.—
Hilton Als,
New Yorker,
10 Apr. 2026
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Analysts say the groups are secretly cooperating with Iran’s government despite public claims of independence, using sophisticated bandwidth to spread content across restricted networks.—
Sam McNeil,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The novel was adapted into a 1965 film, with Caine in a star-making performance as Deighton’s protagonist, a sardonic working-class sophisticate with a love of gourmet food.—
Jill Lawless,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Mar. 2026
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Heartland churchgoers, urban sophisticates, football neophytes—everyone got swept up in his will to win.—
Taylor Antrim,
Vogue,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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As for the documentary, that was spurred by Scorsese's trip to Polizzi Generosa, a town where her father's ancestors are from, in the Italian metropolitan of Palermo.—
Ralphie Aversa,
USA Today,
10 Dec. 2025
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From Atlantic beaches to Western mountains to central metropolitans, there’s a destination suited to every type of traveler.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
21 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cosmopolitan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cosmopolitan. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.
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