also cosmosesˈkäz-mə-səz
[New Latin, genus name, from Greek kosmos]: any of a genus (Cosmos) of tropical American composite herbs
especially: a widely cultivated tall annual (C. bipinnatus) with yellow or red disks and showy ray flowers
Illustration of cosmos
cosmos 3
Did you know?
Cosmos and the Universe
Cosmos often simply means "universe". But the word is generally used to suggest an orderly or harmonious universe, as it was originally used by Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C. Thus, a religious mystic may help put us in touch with the cosmos, and so may a physicist. The same is often true of the adjective cosmic: Cosmic rays (really particles rather than rays) bombard us from outer space, but cosmic questions come from human attempts to find order in the universe.
the origins of the cosmos
an essay that ponders the place of humankind in the vast cosmos
Recent Examples on the WebAdd plants that support all stages of the pollinators’ lifecycle, such as various types of milkweed, coneflowers, bee balm, and cosmos to feed pollinators from summer through fall.—Peter Gorman, Hartford Courant, 29 Apr. 2024 But there are special moments in the lifetime of our universe—such as its infancy, when the whole cosmos was the size of an atom—for which this disregard for small-scale physics fails us.—Edgar Shaghoulian, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2022 The Cupola is a control center in the ISS with seven portholes that allow astronauts to work while enjoying a 360-degree view of the outside, providing an exceptional observatory for studying the Earth and the entire cosmos.—Massimo Comparini, Fortune, 30 Aug. 2023 Beneath the dipole sit one-part-in-a-million temperature differences, a sign of the first density fluctuations that would grow to dominate the entire cosmos.—Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 24 Apr. 2023 See all Example Sentences for cosmos
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cosmos.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Share