as in city
a thickly settled, highly populated area a sprawling cosmopolis where ambitious people from all over come to make their fortune

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cosmopolis Istanbul is a cosmopolis unlike any other—where the remains of former empires, the cultural influences of multi-ethnic communities, and contemporary Turkish identity all exist in delicate harmony. Feride Yalav-Heckeroth, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 June 2022 While Istanbul and Cappadocia are more popular with tourists to Turkey, don't miss the chance to explore Izmir, which was once the country's most thriving cosmopolis. Lilit Marcus, CNN, 8 Oct. 2022 On the Volga a quasi-capital rose at Sarai, established by Batu around 1250, and grew into a cosmopolis of artisans, farmers, and merchants from as far away as Syria, Egypt, even Greece—so many that a New Sarai was founded upriver. Colin Thubron, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2021 For decades a symbol of all that was dead and dysfunctional in the ever-expanding cosmopolis, the river is undergoing its own rehabilitation, shedding some of its visible concrete. Alexandra Marshall, WSJ, 14 Aug. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cosmopolis
Noun
  • To a resident of the more anonymous and corporate post-pandemic New York, the East Village of the eighties could seem as small and intertwined as a walled city.
    Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
  • One such destination is Copenhagen, a Scandinavian city renowned for its art and architecture.
    Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 10 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Many of the selections underscore the social stresses and inequalities of the growing metropolis, the scars left by the harsh military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1976 to 1983, and the human costs of Argentina’s recurrent economic crises.
    Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
  • That is what they are being punished for—an effort to free themselves from the control of a former metropolis.
    Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 20 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Soon, Rick can’t take it anymore and heads into town to find marijuana (cannabis is currently legal in Thailand), with Chelsea in tow.
    Dan Heching, CNN, 3 Mar. 2025
  • The footage was captured in Vang Vieng, a town in the northwest region of Laos.
    Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 3 Mar. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Cosmopolis.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cosmopolis. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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