UNIVERSE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does universe mean? 

• UNIVERSE (noun)
  The noun UNIVERSE has 3 senses:

1. everything that exists anywhere

2. (statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn

3. everything stated or assumed in a given discussion

  Familiarity information: UNIVERSE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNIVERSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Everything that exists anywhere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

cosmos; creation; existence; macrocosm; universe; world

Context example:

the biggest tree in existence

Hypernyms ("universe" is a kind of...):

natural object (an object occurring naturally; not made by man)

Meronyms (parts of "universe"):

celestial body; heavenly body (natural objects visible in the sky)

estraterrestrial body; extraterrestrial object (a natural object existing outside the earth and outside the earth's atmosphere)

Meronyms (members of "universe"):

extragalactic nebula; galaxy ((astronomy) a collection of star systems; any of the billions of systems each having many stars and nebulae and dust)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "universe"):

closed universe ((cosmology) a universe that is spatially closed and in which there is sufficient matter to halt the expansion that began with the big bang; the visible matter is only 10 percent of the matter required for closure but there may be large amounts of dark matter)

natural order (the physical universe considered as an orderly system subject to natural (not human or supernatural) laws)

nature (the natural physical world including plants and animals and landscapes etc.)

Derivation:

universal (of worldwide scope or applicability)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(statistics) the entire aggregation of items from which samples can be drawn

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

population; universe

Context example:

it is an estimate of the mean of the population

Hypernyms ("universe" is a kind of...):

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

Domain category:

statistics (a branch of applied mathematics concerned with the collection and interpretation of quantitative data and the use of probability theory to estimate population parameters)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "universe"):

subpopulation (a population that is part of a larger population)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Everything stated or assumed in a given discussion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

universe; universe of discourse

Hypernyms ("universe" is a kind of...):

cognitive content; content; mental object (the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned)

 Context examples 

Sometimes the universe plays tricks on us, and this is one of those days.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The finding could help expand scientists' understanding of the fundamental forces of the universe.

(Antarctic detector offers first look at how Earth stops high-energy neutrinos in their tracks, National Science Foundation)

It was a bit of phenomena that he could not correlate with all the rest of the phenomena in the universe.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Small stars are actually the most common in the universe, so it is possible there are many of these giant planets waiting to found.

(Astronomers report dwarf star with unexpectedly giant planet, Wikinews)

Duty, my dear Doctor, before every consideration in the universe!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Astronomers have been hunting for phosphorus in the universe because of the role it plays in life on Earth.

(Finding Alien Life Unlikely Due to Lack of Phosphorus in Universe, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They say even though finding such celestial objects are rare, there could be large amounts of such planets in the universe that have yet to be discovered.

(Astronomers Discover New Planet Not Orbiting Any Star, VOA)

Planck data show this was a quick process, which was half-complete when the universe had reached an age of 700 million years.

(First Stars Formed Later Than We Thought, NASA)

Where people are really attached, poverty itself is wealth; grandeur I detest: I would not settle in London for the universe.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The black hole was already billions of times the mass of our sun when our universe was only a tenth of its present age of 13.8 billion years.

(The Most Luminous Galaxy in Universe, NASA)