microcosm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmaɪ.kɹə(ʊ)ˌkɒz.əm/
ipa: /ˈmaɪ.kɹəˌkɑz.əm/
Forms: form: microcosms
Etymology: From French microcosme, from Latin microcosmus, from Ancient Greek μικρός (mikrós, “small”) + κόσμος (kósmos, “universe, order”); micro- + -cosm.
Senses: examples: text: The Christian humanists were emphatic in their demand that a man who wishes to understand himself must realize that he is a little world that reflects on a smaller scale the larger world of the universe. […] On the other hand, the whole idea of man as a microcosm was questioned by those who were not in sympathy with the Christian humanists.
ref: 1972, Rolf Soellner, Shakespeare's Patterns of Self-Knowledge, Chapter 3: Microcosm and Macrocosm: Framing The Picture of Man, page 43
glosses: Human nature or the human body as representative of the wider universe; man considered as a miniature counterpart of divine or universal nature.
examples: text: If you see this in the Map of my Microcosme, followes it that I am knowne well enough too?
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: The human body; a person.
examples: text: Near-synonyms: epitome, paradigm, model
text: That short journey to Brighton was like a microcosm of the railway universe, embracing as it did a tunnel, a viaduct, two junctions, and two termini! Unfortunately, the route was far from direct.
ref: 1953 April, Henry Maxwell, “Abandoned Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 271:
text: ‘In a sense, the problems experienced at Bristol are like a microcosm of what is happening in the NHS - experienced surgeons battling against difficult circumstances, with inadequate resources and in a culture where the finding of scapegoats appears to be put before the finding of solutions.’
ref: 1999 December 16, Barry McIntyre, The Guardian:
text: Steve Bruce's side have swung from highs to lows in what has been at best a wildly inconsistent start to the season. They experienced a microcosm of this within the opening 45 minutes at the Stadium of Light.
ref: 2011 October 1, Phil Dawkes, “Sunderland 2 - 2 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:
text: It should come as no surprise to see promotional material and bulletin boards in the department’s languages, though English is also present in the signage of this microcosm of the institution.
ref: 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 5:
text: The wider North West and Central Region is itself a microcosm of the industry's complexity. Covering the approaches to London Euston, stretching through Birmingham and the West Midlands, and reaching Manchester, Liverpool and beyond, it is a patchwork of overlapping markets, political geographies, and infrastructure types.
ref: 2025 October 1, Richard Wilcock, “There is more to be proud of in the railway than we sometimes allow ourselves to see”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 40:
synonyms: worldkin#Noun
coordinate_terms: emblem#Noun
;
exemplar#Noun
example#Noun
representative#Noun
;
sample#Noun
specimen#Noun
sampler#Noun
glosses: A smaller system which is seen as representative of a larger one.
examples: text: The method is relatively labour intensive (24-30 microcosms are run) and more difficult to interpret when compared with other microcosm methods (Shannon et al. 1986; Cairns & Cherry 1993).
ref: 2009, Jerry C. Smrchek, Maurice G. Zeeman, Chapter 3: Assessing Risks to Ecological Systems from Chemicals, Peter P. Calow (editor), Handbook of Environmental Risk Assessment and Management, page 53
topics: biology
ecology
natural-sciences
glosses: A small natural ecosystem; an artificial ecosystem set up as an experimental model.
Derived terms: heterocosm
microcosmic
microcosmography