cosmopolitan

1 of 2

noun

1

: cosmopolite

Many cosmopolitans around the world now also share the English language …

—Robert J. Shiller

2

or less commonly cosmo

ˈkäz-(ˌ)mō 

: a cocktail made of vodka, orange-flavored liqueur, lime juice, and cranberry juice

cosm-

2 of 2

combining form

variants or cosmo-

: world : universe

cosmorama

cosmogenesis

Did you know?

Defining Cosmopolitan (Not the Drink)

Since cosmopolitan includes the root polit-, from the Greek word for "citizen", someone who is cosmopolitan is a "citizen of the world". She may be able to read the morning paper in Rio de Janeiro, attend a lecture in Madrid, and assist at a refugee camp in Uganda with equal ease—and maybe all in the same week. And a city or a country that is cosmopolitan has aspects and elements that come from various countries.

Synonyms of cosmopolitan

Noun

• sophisticate
• metropolitan

Examples of cosmopolitan in a Sentence

Noun

as someone who had lived in Paris for a year as an exchange student, she seemed very much the cosmopolitan to her old classmates

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Seedlip is ideal for non-alcoholic spritzes, palomas, cosmopolitans and similar classics. —Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 27 May 2026

There's a matinee for students and daytime explorers and a Saturday night outing for date-night cosmopolitans. —Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 26 Mar. 2026

In that series, Michelle Pfeiffer’s cosmopolitan Stacy Clyburn learns to embrace the American West after a tragedy forces her to leave New York City for the Madison River Valley in central Montana. —Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 20 Mar. 2026

If top-level soccer is now played by something like rootless cosmopolitans, it’s financed by billionaires who are no longer primarily European. —Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

see cosmopolite

Combining form

Middle English (in cosmographie cosmography), from Latin cosm-, Late Latin cosmo-, from Greek kosm-, kosmo-, from kosmos

First Known Use

Noun

circa 1645, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for cosmopolitan

• metropolitan
• neapolitan
• nonmetropolitan

Kids Definition

cosmopolitan

adjective

cos·​mo·​pol·​i·​tan

ˌkäz-mə-ˈpäl-ət-ᵊn

1

: having a worldwide scope or outlook : not limited or narrow

cosmopolitan world travelers

2

: composed of persons or elements from many parts of the world

a cosmopolitan city

3

: found in most parts of the world and in many kinds of ecological conditions

a cosmopolitan herb

cosmopolitan noun