WORLDLY (worldlier, worldliest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: worldlier    , worldliest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does worldly mean? 

• WORLDLY (adjective)
  The adjective WORLDLY has 2 senses:

1. characteristic of or devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual world

2. very sophisticated especially because of surfeit; versed in the ways of the world

  Familiarity information: WORLDLY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORLDLY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of or devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual world

Synonyms:

secular; temporal; worldly

Context example:

temporal possessions of the church

Similar:

economic (concerned with worldly necessities of life (especially money))

material (concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests)

materialistic; mercenary; worldly-minded (marked by materialism)

mundane; terrestrial (concerned with the world or worldly matters)

Also:

earthly (of or belonging to or characteristic of this earth as distinguished from heaven)

profane; secular (not concerned with or devoted to religion)

sophisticated (having or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement and savoir-faire)

Antonym:

unworldly (not concerned with the temporal world or swayed by mundane considerations)

Derivation:

world (the concerns of this life as distinguished from heaven and the afterlife)

worldliness (concern with worldly affairs to the neglect of spiritual needs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Very sophisticated especially because of surfeit; versed in the ways of the world

Synonyms:

blase; worldly

Context example:

the benefits of his worldly wisdom

Similar:

sophisticated (having or appealing to those having worldly knowledge and refinement and savoir-faire)

Derivation:

worldliness (the quality or character of being intellectually sophisticated and worldly through cultivation or experience or disillusionment)

 Context examples 

Then you are free to follow a worldly life.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This March 9 full moon is one of the most encouraging full moons of the year and will lift you out of ordinary life to experience something other-worldly and quite beautiful.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Who but herself had taught her, that she was to elevate herself if possible, and that her claims were great to a high worldly establishment?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

You are safe in all worldly matters, and safe in his character.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Your parents, my dear, have no more worldly wisdom than a pair of babies.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have studied how best to mortify in them the worldly sentiment of pride; and, only the other day, I had a pleasing proof of my success.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I never thought, proceeded Annie, with a heightened colour, of any worldly gain that my husband would bring to me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was afraid of the bias of those worldly maxims, which she has been too much used to hear.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Two pound four and threepence,” cried Harrison, counting out all his worldly wealth.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She felt it so; and though, in looking forward, neither rational happiness nor worldly prosperity could be justly expected for her sister, in looking back to what they had feared, only two hours ago, she felt all the advantages of what they had gained.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)