cosmopolitan
worldly, widely experienced, or at home among many cultures
Roots
- cosm / cosmos: world, universe, order, or ordered whole
- polis: city, citizen, or civic life
Other words with the cosm / cosmos root
Other words with the polis root
- metropolis: a large important city
Cosmopolitan joins cosm, world, with polis, city. The word imagines a person at home in the wider human city.
Her cosmopolitan education made local habits interesting rather than strange.
Cosmopolitan should not feel like a fancy synonym for sophisticated. The structure is clearer: cosmos gives world, and polis gives city or citizen. A cosmopolitan person belongs easily in more than one place.