Illustration of cosmos
- cosmos 3
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a
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: a complex orderly self-inclusive system
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plural cosmos
ˈkäz-məs 
[New Latin, genus name, from Greek kosmos]
: any of a genus (Cosmos) of tropical American composite herbs
-məz
also cosmoses
ˈkäz-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
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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.
Examples of cosmos in a Sentence
the origins of the cosmos
an essay that ponders the place of humankind in the vast cosmos
Recent Examples on the Web
The standard model is our basic picture of a cosmos dominated by cold dark matter and dark energy, operating under the province of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
—
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 22 Jan. 2025
So far, the VLT has allowed astronomers to trace orbits of stars in the nearest vicinity of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, taken the first ever image of a planet outside the solar system and uncovered the elusive cosmic web that sprawls across the entire cosmos.
—Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 18 Jan. 2025
In essence, the far future of the cosmos becomes the big bang of a new one, and our cosmos is just one of an infinite strand that always seamlessly emerge from each other.
—Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 14 Jan. 2025
Like its historical predecessors, this mandala is a cosmic chart, but one of a cosmos in distress.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024
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Keith Cooper, Space.com, 22 Jan. 2025
So far, the VLT has allowed astronomers to trace orbits of stars in the nearest vicinity of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, taken the first ever image of a planet outside the solar system and uncovered the elusive cosmic web that sprawls across the entire cosmos.
—Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 18 Jan. 2025
In essence, the far future of the cosmos becomes the big bang of a new one, and our cosmos is just one of an infinite strand that always seamlessly emerge from each other.
—Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 14 Jan. 2025
Like its historical predecessors, this mandala is a cosmic chart, but one of a cosmos in distress.
—Holland Cotter, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for cosmos
Dictionary Entries Near cosmos
Cite this Entry
“Cosmos.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cosmos. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
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