cos·mog·o·ny

(kŏz-mŏg′ə-nē)

n. pl. cos·mog·o·nies

a. The astrophysical study of the origin and evolution of the universe.

b. A specific theory or model of the origin and evolution of the universe.

2. A philosophical, religious, or mythical explanation of the origin of the universe.

cos′mo·gon′ic (-mə-gŏn′ĭk), cos′mo·gon′i·cal adj.

cos′mo·gon′i·cal·ly adv.

cos·mog′o·nist n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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References in classic literature

It makes the works of God a mere mockery and deception; I would almost as soon believe with the old and ignorant cosmogonists, that fossil shells had never lived, but had been created in stone so as to mock the shells now living on the sea-shore.

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I'm neither a metaphysician nor a cosmogonist. Heck, I sometimes even burn my toast.

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