- a thing, a place or a group that has all the features and qualities of something much larger
- The family is a microcosm of society.
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French microcosme or medieval Latin microcosmus, from Greek mikros kosmos ‘little world’.Definitions on the go
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Idioms
See microcosm in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryin microcosm
- on a small scale
- The developments in this town represent in microcosm what is happening in the country as a whole.
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microcosm