Word.ws English Dictionary

mesocosm

mesocosm noun: any system larger than a microcosm but smaller than a macrocosm, especially when used as an outdoor experimental system that examines the natural environment under controlled conditions.

Noun

mesocosm (plural mesocosms)

  1. Any system larger than a microcosm but smaller than a macrocosm, especially when used as an outdoor experimental system that examines the natural environment under controlled conditions.
    • Researchers from the University of Queensland were building an elaborate Plexiglas mesocosm that was going to allow them to manipulate CO₂ levels on a patch of reef, even as it allowed the various creatures that depend on the reef to swim in and out.2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 7, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company
    • My lab studies the connections between population, community and ecosystem ecology in aquatic environments. We are particularly interested in the flow of energy between trophic levels, the impact of consumers on their resources, and the control of species diversity. We use broad geographic...2026 January 30 (last accessed), Jonathan Shurin, UC San Diego School of Biological Sciences, archived from the original on 30 Jan 2026

Forms of mesocosm

pluralmesocosms

Origin of mesocosm

From meso- + -cosm.

Questions about mesocosm

What does mesocosm mean?
Mesocosm means any system larger than a microcosm but smaller than a macrocosm, especially when used as an outdoor experimental system that examines the natural environment under controlled conditions.
What part of speech is mesocosm?
Mesocosm is a noun.
What is the plural of mesocosm?
The plural of mesocosm is mesocosms.

Words near mesocosm in the dictionary

  1. mesocortical
  2. mesocorticolimbic
  3. mesocorticolimbic circuit
  4. mesocorticolimbic circuits
  5. mesocorticostriatal
  6. mesocosm
  7. mesocosms
  8. mesocotyl
  9. mesocotylar
  10. mesocotyls
  11. mesocoxa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mesocosm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-mesocosm.wav.

Cite this entry: “mesocosm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mesocosm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.