MEANING
1. Relating to the universe as a whole or to processes extending beyond the earth.
2. Extremely great in size, importance, or effect, usually as deliberate exaggeration.
Use it for
placing a human event in a universe-wide perspective; describing forces beyond an earthly setting; contrasting human concerns with a much larger scale; evoking impersonal processes without inventing technical namesShifts attention from human or earthly concerns to the universe as a whole, without pretending all large things are literally infinite. Writing functions: Cosmic Horror fallback.
Words that belong together
- cosmic scale
- cosmic forces
- cosmic indifference
On the page
On a cosmic scale, the city’s entire history was scarcely an interruption.
The novel’s terror comes from cosmic indifference rather than an enemy’s hatred.
He called the missing invitation a cosmic injustice, then laughed at himself.
To the child, their meeting seemed a coincidence of cosmic importance.
Word forms
- Base
- cosmic
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Usage notes
Adjective: cosmic scale, cosmic forces. Ordinarily not graded when it means relating to the universe. The exaggerated greatness use allows emphatic modification but does not imply an exact measurement. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common; exaggerated greatness use informal (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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