Meanings
plural cosmopolitanisms
- The quality of being cosmopolitan.
- countableuncountableThe idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community.
To present the world anthropologies project (WA), this article explores the existence of three kinds of anthropological cosmopolitanisms and cosmopolitics: imperial, liberal, and radical.
2014 October, Gustavo Lins Ribeiro, “World anthropologies. Anthropological cosmopolitanisms and cosmopolitics.”, in Annual Review of Anthropology, volume 431 more example
The philosophy of cosmopolitanism underlies theories of global citizenship. Cosmopolitanism is the ability to balance a local and global identity. A cosmopolitan individual engages meaningfully with different cultures and feels at home in the world.
2013 November 25, Caroline Ferguson, “What kind of global citizens are teachers creating?”, in The GuardianSynonyms: cosmopolitanness · Antonyms: tribalism, nativism
- countableeuphemisticsometimesuncountableJewishness.
rootless cosmopolitanism
Synonyms: cosmopolitanness
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community.
nounTransnationalism.
nounJewishness.
Origin
From cosmopolitan + -ism. The sense referring obliquely to Jewishness comes from the long era in which all Jews lived in the Jewish diaspora because Jews had been banished from the ancient Jewish homeland and no new homeland yet existed. In Soviet use it was rooted in fear of transnationalism generally but took on coded or dogwhistle antisemitic qualities that were not explicitly separable from the generality.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic الْمُوَاطَنَة الْعَالَمِيَّة
- الْمُوَاطَنَة الْعَالَمِيَّةidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Catalan cosmopolitisme
- cosmopolitismeidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Chinese Mandarin 世界主義 /世界主义
- 世界主義 /世界主义 (shìjiè zhǔyì)idea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Czech světoobčanství, kosmopolitismus
- světoobčanstvíidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
- kosmopolitismusidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Finnish kosmopolitanismi
- kosmopolitanismiidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
French cosmopolitisme
- cosmopolitismeidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
German Kosmopolitismus, Weltbürgertum
- Kosmopolitismusidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
- Weltbürgertumidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Japanese コスモポリタニズム
- コスモポリタニズム (kosumoporitanizumu)idea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Persian جهانوطنی
- جهانوطنی (jahân-vatani)idea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Russian космополити́зм
- космополити́зм (kosmopolitízm)idea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Spanish cosmopolitismo
- cosmopolitismoidea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Ukrainian космополіти́зм
- космополіти́зм (kosmopolitýzm)idea that all humanity belongs to a single community
Cite this entry
cosmopolitanism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmopolitanism
“cosmopolitanism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmopolitanism. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cosmopolitanism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cosmopolitanism.
Source: cosmopolitanism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.