universe means our universe, the sum of everything that exists in the cosmos, including time and space itself. It carries an Arena rating of 1469, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, universe ranks #198 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #392 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,013 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,099 of 42,747 for Qualifying.
universe is pronounced /ˈjuːnɪˌvɜːs/.
Why “universe” is a great word
The totality of all existing matter, energy, space, and time, considered as a single, interconnected system. From Middle English, via Old French univers, from Latin universum, neuter of universus ("whole, entire, turned into one"), from uni- ("one") + versus, past participle of vertere ("to turn"). Unlike “cosmos,” which implies an inherent, harmonious order, or “multiverse,” a speculative branching into infinite elsewheres, “universe” is the unadorned, all-encompassing singular. It is the primordial fireball cooling into galaxies, the silent, curved geometry of emptiness between stars, and the sum of every story ever told or forgotten—the unthinkable everything, gathered and turned into one.
Etymology
From Middle English, directly or via Old French univers, from Latin universum. See universe.
name
- Our universe, the sum of everything that exists in the cosmos, including time and space itself.e.g.“Powerful telescopes look far back into the distant reaches of the Universe.”
noun
- The sum of everything that exists in the cosmos.e.g.“Do you think that the universe was created by a life force or a deity?”
- The sum of everything that exists in the cosmos.; An entity similar to our universe; one component of a larger entity known as the multiverse.
- Everything under consideration.e.g.“In all this universe of possibilities, there is only one feasible option.”
- Everything under consideration.; The set of all things considered.
- Everything under consideration.; The set of all admissible observations.e.g.“In general content-related evidence demonstrates the degree to which the sample of items, tasks or questions on a test is representative of some defined universe or domain of content.” — 2005, Dato de Gruijter, Leo van der Kamp, Statistical Test Theory for Education and psychology, page 79:
- Everything under consideration.; A sample taken from the population.
- An imaginary collection of worlds; the general imaginary world within which a work of fiction takes place, broader than its immediate setting.e.g.“The universe in this comic book series is richly imagined.”
- An imaginary collection of worlds; the general imaginary world within which a work of fiction takes place, broader than its immediate setting.; A collection of stories with characters and settings that typically share a continuity but are less interrelated than those of sequels or prequels.
- A whole world, in the sense of perspective or social setting.e.g.“That didn’t just rock my world, it rocked my universe.”
- A deity who is equivalent to the sum of everything that exists in the cosmos.e.g.“The universe wants you to succeed.”
- The Earth, the sphere of the world.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.