world

SayWURLD/wɜɹld/UK/wɜːld/

19 meanings of world

1
the Earthnounwith the
The Earth considered as a physical planet and as the shared home of all its peoples and nations.
Leaders from around the world gathered to discuss the climate crisis.
Old maps reveal how little of the world had been explored a few centuries ago.
UsageCommon frames: all over the world, around the world. Before a noun: world trade, a world record.
SimilarEarth
Note
Earth and the planet name the body in space, and this sense can too, as in the line attributed to Irna Phillips, "as the world turns." Its usual leaning, though, is human and political: the place nations share.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
The words “as the world turns” occur in a line attributed to Irna Phillips. en.wikipedia.org
2
noun
Collective human existence and the shared reality that people live in.
After school ends, students have to learn how things actually work in the real world.
After ten years in prison, he struggled to find his place in the world.
UsageOften the real world, in the world, make the world a better place.
Similarreality, existence
Note
The word named a span of human life before it named a place. Miranda's 'O brave new world' in Shakespeare's The Tempest (1623) uses it, and Aldous Huxley borrowed the phrase for his Brave New World (1932).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Aldous Huxley borrowed the phrase for his novel's title. en.wikipedia.org
Brave New World was first published in 1932. bpl.bibliocommons.com
3
nouncountable
The particular social setting, surroundings, or point of view belonging to a person or group.
He always felt like an outsider in the rarefied world of academic publishing.
The fashion world quickly embraced her unconventional designs.
UsageUsually the world of + a field, or a noun in front: the world of boxing, the fashion world.
Similarcircle
Note
Circle is close but smaller and more social. Welcome to my world is the personal version, a wry invitation to share someone's troubles.
4
nounmetonymicallywith the
The majority of people; people in general.
The world had already made up its mind about the scandal.
He resigned quietly and let the world draw its own conclusions.
UsageTakes a singular verb: the world thinks, the whole world knows.
Similarpublic, people
5
one's own lifenouncountable
Life and reality as a single individual experiences it.
After the diagnosis, his world shrank to the walls of a hospital room.
She drifted through her own private world, barely noticing anyone around her.
UsageUsually with my, her, his: her world fell apart; music was his whole world.
Similarlife, existence, universe
Note
The private counterpart to collective human existence: here the possessive is singular (my world, her world), and the scale is one life. That makes it the language of loss and devotion, as in the end of my world after a divorce, or he was my world of a fallen companion. When Margery Allingham writes that it was as if the world had never touched him, one person's experience stands for everyone's.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
Margery Allingham writes that it was as if the world had never touched him; this is narration describing Eustace in The China Governess. fadedpage.com
6
cultural regionnouncountable
A region, or a set of nations or peoples, united by a common culture, language, history, or stage of development, as in the Arab world.
The festival draws artists from all over the Arab world.
Coffee spread quickly through the Islamic and then the Western worlds.
UsageUsually the + a defining word: the Arab world, the English-speaking world, the developing world.
Note
Because the adjective does the defining, the borders are fuzzy, and the label says more about shared language, faith, history or wealth than about geography. Old World and New World are capitalized fixed pairs.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Old World is a capitalized fixed geographical expression. en.wikipedia.org
New World is a capitalized fixed geographical expression. en.wikipedia.org
7
fictional realmnouncountable
An imagined realm, such as an invented planet or an alternative version of the Earth, with its own societies, history, and rules, as in fiction or games.
The studio built a richly detailed world complete with its own myths and politics.
Science fiction writers love inventing worlds whose societies mirror our own.
UsageOften the world of + a name: the world of Narnia. Writers build a world.
Similarrealm, universe, setting
Note
The storyteller's and the franchise's word. Writers speak of building a world, meaning the whole society and its rules, not just the map.
8
cosmosnoun
The whole of existence regarded as the universe.
Stoic philosophers viewed the world as a single rational whole governed by natural law.
Medieval scholars placed the Earth at the center of the world.
Similaruniverse, cosmos, creation
9
noun
A period of history, together with its people and way of life, thought of as a distinct age.
The customs of that vanished world seem strange to us now.
Thy kingdom is a kingdom of al worldes: and thy domnion in al generation and generation.
1610, The Second Tome of the Holie Bible, Douay–Rheims Bible
UsageToday mostly after a time word: the ancient world, the medieval world.
Note
The oldest meaning surfacing: the 'age of man' behind the shared human sense. Here world is a span of time, not a place. The Douay Old Testament of 1610 renders an eternal reign as 'a kingdom of al worldes'. The liturgical formula world without end keeps it alive.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
World's historical source literally means 'age of man'. en.wiktionary.org
World historically had a temporal meaning. en.wiktionary.org
The Douay Old Testament volume containing Psalms was published in 1610. archive.org
That translation describes God's eternal kingdom as 'a kingdom of al worldes', in Psalm 144:13. en.wiktionary.org
'World without end' occurs in a liturgical formula expressing perpetuity. churchofengland.org

Less common meanings

10
planetnouncountable
A planet or other astronomical body, such as a moon, especially one that is or could be inhabited.
Each habitable world must orbit at the right distance from its star.
The new telescope has detected several rocky worlds around nearby stars.
Similarplanet
Note
Poets reached for this sense long before space travel did. Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850) has Science reaching 'from world to world'. Lord Dunsany's The Gods of Pegāna (1905) capitalizes the Worlds that move in circles. Larry Niven's Ringworld (1970) shows its science-fiction home, where every world is a destination. Unlike planet, world brings the expectation that someone lives there, or could.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
Alfred Tennyson wrote In Memoriam, first published in 1850. en.wikisource.org
In Memoriam describes science reaching between worlds and contains the exact phrase 'from world to world'. The passage belongs to an imagined critic's speech. gutenberg.org
Lord Dunsany wrote The Gods of Pegāna, first published in 1905. en.wikipedia.org
The Gods of Pegāna capitalizes 'Worlds' in a passage describing their circular motion. en.wikisource.org
Larry Niven wrote Ringworld, first published in 1970. larryniven.net
11
nouncountable
In a video game, a major section made up of a series of stages or levels that usually share a similar environment or theme.
The ice world introduces slippery platforms and a new set of enemies.
The game's final world ties together themes from every earlier stage.
Similarzone
Note
Game design borrowed the word for a themed run of levels: the ice world, the next world. Players move through worlds in order, usually meeting a boss at the end of each. Secret shortcuts such as a hidden warp down a pipe can skip a world entirely. Worlds are often numbered, and a level inside one is often a stage.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
Players normally progress through worlds in sequence. en.wikipedia.org
Worlds typically end with a boss encounter. en.wikipedia.org
Secret pipe shortcuts can bypass worlds. en.wikipedia.org
12
great amountnouncolloquial
A great amount; a large quantity of something.
The new manager made a world of difference to staff morale.
A long letter from an old friend did him a world of good.
UsageUsually in a world of difference or a world of good; also worlds apart.
Similarlot, ton
13
nouncountable
In mythology and cosmology, one of several separate realms, each with distinct features and inhabited by different kinds of beings.
Shamans were believed to travel between the upper and lower worlds in a trance.
Each world in the cosmology was reserved for a particular kind of being.
UsageOften with numbers or upper and lower: the nine worlds; travel between worlds.
Similarrealm, plane
Note
Cosmologies count their worlds. In Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology (2017), Odin's throne Hlidskjalf looks out across 'the nine worlds', each a realm of its own.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Neil Gaiman wrote Norse Mythology, first published in 2017. en.wikipedia.org
The book describes Odin's throne as allowing him to see across 'the nine worlds'; the quoted words belong to the narration. en.wiktionary.org
The worlds in Gaiman's account are distinct realms. en.wikipedia.org
14
nouncountable
A vast expanse of land or open countryside.
Beyond the pass lay a world of untouched wilderness stretching to the horizon.
The wagons rolled for weeks across a world of grass with hardly a tree in sight.
Similarexpanse, stretch, tract
Note
Here the word is about sheer extent of land rather than a planet or a society. It sits behind the New World, where a whole expanse of continents is named as if it were a separate world.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
The land-extent sense of world is exemplified by New World. en.wiktionary.org
New World names a continental expanse, principally the Americas. en.wikipedia.org
15
noununcountable
Everyday life on earth, with its practical cares and pleasures, set apart from the life of the spirit or religion and from heaven or the hereafter.
After twenty years in banking, he renounced the world and entered a monastery.
The sermon urged believers to set their hearts on heaven rather than on the world.
UsageUsually the world, set against heaven or the spirit: renounce the world, leave the world.
Similarearth
16
verb
To consider something as a global whole, rather than focusing on national or other distinctions.
17
noun
In an operating system, the collection of programs distributed alongside the kernel, including the shell and other utilities.
18
noun
The highest trump in a tarot deck, numbered XXI, usually placed last among the twenty-two major arcana cards.
19
verb
To make something real, or to give worldly form to it; to bring it into actual existence.

Practice

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Origin

"World" comes from Middle English "world," from Old English "weorold," which goes back to Proto-Germanic *weraldiz meaning "lifetime, human existence," literally "age of man." It combines "wer" (man) and "eld" (age), and is related to Dutch "wereld," German "Welt," and Swedish "värld."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

World derives through Middle English world and Old English weorold from Proto-Germanic *weraldiz, meaning lifetime or human existence, literally age of man. en.wiktionary.org
World combines elements equivalent to wer meaning man and eld meaning age. en.wiktionary.org
World is related to Dutch wereld, German Welt and Swedish värld. en.wiktionary.org