Definition of COSMOPOLITAN (original) (raw)

: having wide international sophistication : worldly

Greater cultural diversity has led to a more cosmopolitan attitude among the town's younger generations.

: composed of persons, constituents, or elements from all or many parts of the world

a city with a cosmopolitan population

: 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

: found in most parts of the world and under varied ecological conditions

: cosmopolite

Many cosmopolitans around the world now also share the English language …—Robert J. Shiller

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The case for reunification has to be made on this cosmopolitan basis. —Ralph Leonard, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025 Her work, which features bespoke furnishings, intricate architectural details, and sharp attention to form and scale, equalizes Nordic minimalism with cosmopolitan elegance. —Rachel Gallaher, Robb Report, 2 Feb. 2025

Wildlife fanatics flock to Masai Mara for once-in-a-lifetime safaris, beach lovers island-hop through the turquoise waters of the Lamu Archipelago, and cosmopolitans appreciate Nairobi's growing culinary and art scene. —Hannah Towey, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Oct. 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 See all Example Sentences for cosmopolitan