English

Noun

cosmology ‎(countable and uncountable, plural cosmologies)

1. The study of the physical universe, its structure, dynamics, origin and evolution, and fate.
   • 2012 January 1, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 23:

     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.

2. A metaphysical study into the origin and nature of the universe.
3. A particular view (cultural or religious) of the structure and origin of the universe.

Related terms

• cosmologist
• cosmogony
• cosmological

Translations

See also

• eschatology
• big bang theory
• steady state theory