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cosmopolitanism

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cos⋅mo⋅pol⋅i⋅tan

  [koz-muh-pol-i-tn]
Use cosmopolitanism in a Sentence
–adjective
1. free from local, provincial, or national ideas, prejudices, or attachments; at home all over the world.
2. of or characteristic of a cosmopolite.
3. belonging to all the world; not limited to just one part of the world.
4. Botany, Zoology. widely distributed over the globe.
–noun
5. a person who is free from local, provincial, or national bias or attachment; citizen of the world; cosmopolite.
Origin:
1835–45; cosmopolite + -an

Related forms:
cos⋅mo⋅pol⋅i⋅tan⋅ism, noun
cos⋅mo⋅pol⋅i⋅tan⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. sophisticated, urbane, worldly.

Antonyms:
1. provincial, parochial.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cos·mo·pol·i·tan   (kŏz'mə-pŏl'ĭ-tn)   
adj.  

  1. Pertinent or common to the whole world: an issue of cosmopolitan import.

  2. Having constituent elements from all over the world or from many different parts of the world: the ancient and cosmopolitan societies of Syria and Egypt.

  3. So sophisticated as to be at home in all parts of the world or conversant with many spheres of interest: a cosmopolitan traveler.

  4. Ecology Growing or occurring in many parts of the world; widely distributed.

n.  A cosmopolitan person or organism; a cosmopolite.
cos'mo·pol'i·tan·ism n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cosmopolitan  (adj.)
1844, from cosmopolite "citizen of the world" (1614), from Gk. kosmopolites, from kosmos "world" (see cosmos) + polites "citizen," from polis "city" (see policy (1)). Cosmopolitanism first recorded 1828.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

cosmopolitan cos·mo·pol·i·tan (kŏz'mə-pŏl'ĭ-tn)
adj.
Growing or occurring in many parts of the world; widely distributed. n.
A cosmopolitan organism.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Encyclopedia

cosmopolitanism

in Stoic philosophy, position taken by the Stoics against the traditional (Greek) distinction between Greeks and barbarians, made by applying to themselves the term cosmopolitans, thereby implying that their polis, or city-state, was the entire cosmos, or the whole world. Alexander the Great discouraged this distinction by allowing his generals to marry women native to the lands that they had conquered, but his policy met with resistance in the field and shock at home. The Stoics (from the 4th-3rd century BC) broke through the Greek assumption of their own racial and linguistic superiority and considered the new cosmopolitanism on a philosophical basis

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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