cosmology

Definition

The study of the physical universe, its structure, dynamics, origin and evolution, and fate.

Etymology

From Medieval Latin cosmologia, from Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos, “world”) + -λογία (-logía, “treating of”), combination form of -λόγος (-lógos, “one who speaks (in a certain manner)”). By surface analysis, cosmo- + -logy.

Example Sentences

• "We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year."
• "Near-synonyms: cosmovision, worldview"
• "But the work of Marshack and Leroi-Gourhan enable us to see that these later religions of the civilized period are elaborations of the cosmologies from the universal religion of the Upper Paleolithic."

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