Definition of COSMOPOLITAN (original) (raw)
1
: having wide international sophistication : worldly
Greater cultural diversity has led to a more cosmopolitan attitude among the town's younger generations.
2
: composed of persons, constituents, or elements from all or many parts of the world
a city with a cosmopolitan population
3
: having worldwide rather than limited or provincial scope or bearing
… his cosmopolitan benevolence, impartially extended to all races and to all creeds.—
Thomas Babington Macaulay
4
: found in most parts of the world and under varied ecological conditions
1
Many cosmopolitans around the world now also share the English language …—Robert J. Shiller
2
or less commonly cosmo : a cocktail made of vodka, orange-flavored liqueur, lime juice, and cranberry juice
Did you know?
Since cosmopolitan includes the root polit-, from the Greek word for "citizen", someone who is cosmopolitan is a "citizen of the world". She may be able to read the morning paper in Rio de Janeiro, attend a lecture in Madrid, and assist at a refugee camp in Uganda with equal ease—and maybe all in the same week. And a city or a country that is cosmopolitan has aspects and elements that come from various countries.
Synonyms
Examples of cosmopolitan in a Sentence
Adjective
Greater cultural diversity has led to a more cosmopolitan attitude among the town's younger generations. the cosmopolitan taste of the store's customers It's one of the country's more cosmopolitan cities. Noun
as someone who had lived in Paris for a year as an exchange student, she seemed very much the cosmopolitan to her old classmates
Recent Examples on the Web
And much like the city itself, Boston’s top hotels effortlessly blend the colonial past with its cosmopolitan present. —Forbes Travel Guide, Forbes, 18 Sep. 2024 No better portrait exists of the first truly global industry or the remarkably cosmopolitan crews who chased giant cetaceans to the watery ends of the earth. —The Week Us, theweek, 17 Sep. 2024
Just like globalization forced us all to become cosmopolitans (citizens of the universe) by breaking spatial boundaries, the aging of the internet compels us to become archeopolitans—citizens of an archive—by breaking down temporal boundaries. —Carl Öhman, TIME, 31 July 2024 In this episode of BA’s cocktail series, Sweeney breaks down some of the most popular cocktail glasses around, and discusses the details that make for better cosmopolitans, margaritas, daiquiris, and more. —Tiffany Hopkins, Bon Appétit, 9 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for cosmopolitan 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cosmopolitan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
see cosmopolite
Noun
see cosmopolite
First Known Use
Adjective
1798, in the meaning defined at sense 3
Noun
circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of cosmopolitan was circa 1645
Dictionary Entries Near cosmopolitan
Cite this Entry
“Cosmopolitan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmopolitan. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.
Share
More from Merriam-Webster on cosmopolitan
Last Updated: 27 Sep 2024 - Updated example sentences
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!