macrocosm

UK/ˈmæk.ɹə(ʊ)ˌkɒz.əm/US/ˈmæk.ɹəˌkɑz.əm/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

A macrocosm is the whole vast system, seen as a single thing. The macrocosm and the microcosm.

The old idea was that a person mirrored the universe in miniature. A macrocosm is now usually invoked to say that a small case reflects a large one.

Definitions of macrocosm

1nounmacrocosmThe whole vast system, seen as a single thing.C2
“The village was a macrocosm of nothing and entirely itself.”

macrocosm is a system.

Where it comes from

Greek makros, great, plus kosmos, world; the pairing with microcosm is medieval.

Ancient Greek
μακρός — great, long
Medieval Latin
macrocosmus
Old French
macrocosme
Middle French
macrocosme
English, today
macrocosm

Built from

κόσμος · Ancient Greek — universe, order

From Middle French macrocosme (from Old French macrocosme) and Medieval Latin macrocosmus, formed from Ancient Greek μακρός (“great, long”) + κόσμος (“universe, order”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

macrocosm in the wild

However, the terms microcosm and macrocosm refer more specifically to the analogy as it was developed in ancient Greek philosophy and its medieval and early modern descendants.
Microcosm–macrocosm analogy
In contemporary usage, the terms microcosm and macrocosm are also employed to refer to any smaller system that is representative of a larger one, and vice versa.
Microcosm–macrocosm analogy
The research field of Astroparticle Physics, represented by the divisions of Jim Hinton, Werner Hofmann and Susanne Mertens, combines questions related to macrocosm and microcosm.
Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
The title borrows the philosophical term macrocosm, definable as a larger world that mirrors what exists in a miniature world, or microcosm.
Macrocosm (Star Trek: Voyager)
In the macrocosm, there are seven planets: two favorable (beneficas) ones, two unfavorable (maleficas) ones, two luminaries, and unique Mercury, erratic and indifferent (vagum & indifferens).
Francesco Sizzi

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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