Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

World

World

,
Noun.
[OE.
world
,
werld
,
weorld
,
weoreld
, AS.
weorold
,
worold
; akin to OS.
werold
, D.
wereld
, OHG.
weralt
,
worolt
,
werolt
,
werlt
, G.
welt
, Icel.
veröld
, Sw.
verld
, Dan.
verden
; properly, the age of man, lifetime, humanity; AS.
wer
a man + a word akin to E.
old
; cf. AS.
yld
lifetime, age,
ylde
men, humanity. Cf.
Werewolf
,
Old
.]
1.
The earth and the surrounding heavens; the creation; the system of created things; existent creation; the universe.
The invisible things of him from the creation of the
world
are clearly seen.
Rom. 1. 20.
With desire to know,
What nearer might concern him, how this
world

Of heaven and earth conspicuous first began.
Milton.
2.
Any planet or heavenly body, especially when considered as inhabited, and as the scene of interests analogous with human interests;
as, a plurality of
worlds
.
“Lord of the worlds above.”
I. Watts.
Amongst innumerable stars, that shone
Star distant, but high-hand seemed other
worlds
.
Milton.
There may be other
worlds
, where the inhabitants have never violated their allegiance to their almighty Sovereign.
W. B. Sprague.
3.
The earth and its inhabitants, with their concerns; the sum of human affairs and interests.
That forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the
world
, and all our woe.
Milton.
4.
In a more restricted sense, that part of the earth and its concerns which is known to any one, or contemplated by any one; a division of the globe, or of its inhabitants; human affairs as seen from a certain position, or from a given point of view; also, state of existence; scene of life and action;
as, the Old
World
; the New
World
; the religious
world
; the Catholic
world
; the upper
world
; the future
world
; the heathen
world
.
One of the greatest in the Christian
world

Shall be my surety.
Shakespeare
Murmuring that now they must be put to make war beyond the
world’s
end – for so they counted Britain.
Milton.
5.
The customs, practices, and interests of men; general affairs of life; human society; public affairs and occupations;
as, a knowledge of the
world
.
Happy is she that from the
world
retires.
Waller.
If knowledge of the
world
makes man perfidious,
May Juba ever live in ignorance.
Addison.
6.
Individual experience of, or concern with, life; course of life; sum of the affairs which affect the individual;
as, to begin the
world
with no property; to lose all, and begin the
world
anew
.
7.
The inhabitants of the earth; the human race; people in general; the public; mankind.
Since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the
world
can say against it.
Shakespeare
Tell me, wench, how will the
world
repute me
For undertaking so unstaid a journey?
Shakespeare
8.
The earth and its affairs as distinguished from heaven; concerns of this life as distinguished from those of the life to come; the present existence and its interests; hence, secular affairs; engrossment or absorption in the affairs of this life; worldly corruption; the ungodly or wicked part of mankind.
I pray not for the
world
, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
John xvii. 9.
Love not the
world
, neither the things that are in the
world
. If any man love the
world
, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world
, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world
.
1 John ii. 15, 16.
9.
As an emblem of immensity, a great multitude or quantity; a large number.
“A world of men.”
Chapman.
“A world of blossoms for the bee.”
Bryant.
Nor doth this wood lack
worlds
of company.
Shakespeare
A
world
of woes dispatched in little space.
Dryden.
All . . . in the world
,
all that exists; all that is possible;
as,
all
the precaution
in the world
would not save him
.
–
A world to see
,
a wonder to see; something admirable or surprising to see.
[Obs.]

O, you are novices; 't is a
world to see

How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
Shakespeare
–
For all the world
.
(a)
Precisely; exactly.
(b)
For any consideration.
–
Seven wonders of the world
.
See in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.
–
To go to the world
,
to be married.
[Obs.]
“Thus goes every one to the world but I . . . ; I may sit in a corner and cry heighho for a husband!”
Shak.
–
World's end
,
the end, or most distant part, of the world; the remotest regions.
–
World without end
,
eternally; forever; everlastingly; as if in a state of existence having no end.
Throughout all ages,
world without end
.
Eph. iii. 21.

Webster 1828 Edition

World

WORLD

,
Noun.
[This seems to be a compound word, and probably is named from roundness, the vault; but this is not certain.]
1.
The universe; the whole system of created globes or vast bodies of matter.
2.
The earth; the terraqueous globe; sometimes called the lower world.
3.
The heavens; as when we speak of the heavenly world, or upper world.
4.
System of beings; or the orbs which occupy space, and all the beings which inhabit them. Hebrews 11.
God--hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things; by whom also he made the worlds. Hebrews 1.
There may be other worlds, where the inhabitants have never violated their allegiance to their Almighty sovereign.
5.
Present state of existence; as while we are in the world.
Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. Psalm 73.
6.
A secular life. By the world we sometimes understand the things of this world, its pleasures and interests. A great part of mankind are more anxious to enjoy the world to than secure divine favor.
7.
Public life, or society; as banished from the world.
8.
Business or trouble of life.
From this world-wearied flesh.
9.
A great multitude or quantity; as a world of business; a world of charms.
10.
Mankind; people in general; in an indefinite sense. Let the world see your fortitude.
Whose disposition, all the world well knows--
11.
Course of life. He begins the world with little property, but with many friends.
12.
Universal empire.
This through the east just vengeance hurld, and lost poor Antony the world.
13.
The customs and manners of men; the practice of life. A knowledge of the world is necessary for a man of business; it is essential to politeness.
14.
All the world contains.
Had I a thousand worlds, I would give them all for one year more to devote to God.
15.
The principal nations or countries of the earth. Alexander conquered the world.
16.
The Roman empire.
17.
A large tract of country; a wide compass of things.
I must descry new worlds.
18.
The inhabitants of the earth; the whole human race. John 3.
19.
The carnal state or corruption of the earth; as the present evil world; the course of this world. Galatians 1. Ephesians 2.
20.
The ungodly part of the world.
I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given men. John 17.
21.
Time; as in the phrase, world without end.
22.
A collection of wonders. [Not in use.]
In the world, in possibility. [All the precaution in the world would not save him.]
For all the world,
1.
Exactly. [Little used.]
2.
For any consideration.

Definition 2024

World

World

See also: world

English

Proper noun

The World

  1. Alternative form of world; Earth; the Planet Earth

world

world

See also: World

English

Noun

world ‎(countable and uncountable, plural worlds)

  1. (with "the") Human collective existence; existence in general.
    There will always be lovers, till the world’s end.‎
    • 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed. As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 9, in The China Governess:
      Eustace gaped at him in amazement. When his urbanity dropped away from him, as now, he had an innocence of expression which was almost infantile. It was as if the world had never touched him at all.
    • 2013 June 1, “Towards the end of poverty”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 11:
      America’s poverty line is $63 a day for a family of four. In the richer parts of the emerging world $4 a day is the poverty barrier. But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 ([…]): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.
  2. The Universe.
  3. (uncountable, with "the") The Earth.
    People are dying of starvation all over the world.‎
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. […] She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
    • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:
      Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close […] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.
  4. (countable) A planet, especially one which is inhabited or inhabitable.
    Our mission is to travel the galaxy and find new worlds.‎
    • 2007 September 27, Marc Rayman (interviewee), “NASA's Ion-Drive Asteroid Hunter Lifts Off”, National Public Radio:
      I think many people think of asteroids as kind of little chips of rock. But the places that Dawn is going to really are more like worlds.
    1. (by extension) Any other astronomical body which many be inhabitable, such as a natural satellite.
  5. (fiction, speculation) A realm, such as planet, containing one or multiple societies of beings, specially intelligent ones.
    the world of Narnia, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; a zombie world
  6. An individual or group perspective or social setting.
    In the world of boxing, good diet is all-important.‎
    • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
  7. (informal) A great amount.
    a world of difference;  a world of trouble;  a world of embarrassment‎
  8. (archaic) Age, era

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

world ‎(third-person singular simple present worlds, present participle worlding, simple past and past participle worlded)

  1. To consider or cause to be considered from a global perspective; to consider as a global whole, rather than making or focussing on national or other distinctions; compare globalise.
    • 1996, Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A feminist international politics, pages ix-x:
      There are by now many feminisms (Tong, 1989; Humm, 1992). [...] They are in shifting alliance or contest with postmodern critiques, which at times seem to threaten the very category 'women' and its possibilities for a feminist politics. These debates inform this attempt at worlding women—moving beyond white western power centres and their dominant knowledges (compare Spivak, 1985), while recognising that I, as a white settler-state woman, need to attend to differences between women, too.
    • 2005, James Phillips, Heidegger's Volk: Between National Socialism and Poetry, published by Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0804750714:
      In a sense, the dictatorship was a failure of failure and, on that account, it was perhaps the exemplary system of control. Having in 1933 wagered on the worlding of the world in the regime's failure, Heidegger after the war can only rue his opportunistic hopes for an exposure of the ontological foundations of control.
  2. To make real; to make worldly.

See also

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: find · got · let · #193: world · thing · set · told

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English woruld, worold.

Noun

world (plural worlds)

  1. world

Descendants

Etymology

From Middle English world, weoreld, from Old English world, worold, woruld, weorold ‎(“world, age, men, humanity, life, way of life, long period of time, cycle, eternity”), from Proto-Germanic *weraldiz ‎(“lifetime, worldly existence, mankind, age of man, world”), equivalent to wer ‎(“man”) +‎ eld ‎(“age”). Cognate with Scots warld ‎(“world”), Saterland Frisian Waareld ‎(“world”), West Frisian wrâld ‎(“world”), Dutch wereld ‎(“world”), Low German Werld ‎(“world”), German Welt ‎(“world”), Swedish värld ‎(“world”), Icelandic veröld ‎(“the world”).

Pronunciation

Similar Results