cosmoses

Noun (1)

cosmos (countable and uncountable, plural cosmoses or cosmoi)

1. (countable) The universe regarded as a system with harmony and order.
   • This doctrine [the nebular hypothesis] supposes all the material universe to have been once in a fluid or nebular condition, and that, by the operation of universal gravitation and the thousand other laws of nature, the nebular matter has been mainly aggregated into masses, and the existing cosmoi...1850 August, “Art. V.—The Baron Humboldt’s ‘Cosmos.’ The Physical History of the Universe Explained and Displayed.”, in J[ames] D[unwoody] B[rownson] De Bow, editor, De Bow’s Review of the Southern...
   1. (broadly) A harmonious, ordered whole.
      • This simple cell is a cosmos in this respect: it represents the laws of the universe in changes of matter, and clearly exemplifies their workings in the oral cavity.1890 May 14, S. B. Palmer, “Matter and Force in the Oral Cavity”, in James W[illiam] White, editor, The Dental Cosmos: A Monthly Record of Dental Science. […], volume XXXII, number 7, Philadelphia...
2. (uncountable) Harmony, order.
   • He [Frederick I of Prussia] founded Universities, this poor King; University of Halle; Royal Academy of Berlin, [Gottfried Wilhelm] Leibniz presiding: he fought for Protestantism;—did what he could for the cause of Cosmos versus Chaos, after his fashion.1858, Thomas Carlyle, “King Friedrich I. again”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III, page 370

   Antonyms:

   chaos

Noun (2)

cosmos (countable and uncountable, plural cosmos)

1. Any of various mostly Mexican herbs of the genus Cosmos having radiate heads of variously coloured flowers and pinnate leaves.
   • This beautiful plant was discovered in Mexico, before 1789; as seeds of it sent to Madrid produced plants, which blossomed in that year in the Royal Botanic Garden of Spain. It was first described and figured in 1797, by [Antonio José] Cavanilles, who called it Cosmos, from the Greek word Kosmos...1840, [Jane] Loudon, “Compositæ”, in The Ladies’ Flower-garden of Ornamental Annuals, London: William Smith, […], →OCLC, pages 184–185

See all 5 meanings of cosmos