world

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   all of the living human inhabitants of the earth

   all the world loves a lover

2. 2
   noun

   the concerns of this life as distinguished from heaven and the afterlife

   they consider the church to be independent of the world

3. 3
   noun

   all of one's experiences that determine how things appear

   The child's world was shattered on the discovery that Santa wasn't real.

4. 4
   noun

   a part of the earth that can be considered separately

   the outdoor world

5. 5
   noun

   The subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in.

   In retrospect, the process of economic globalization has meant the end of the world as we knew it.

6. 6
   noun

   The subjective human experience, regarded individually.

   The period immediately following my divorce seemed like the end of my world.

7. 7
   noun

   A majority of people.

   Running after God is the only life worth living. Even though the world believes that living for God is boring, we believe that there is nothing more exciting.

8. 8
   noun

   The Earth, especially in a geopolitical or cultural context, or as the physical planet.

   People are dying of starvation all over the world.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós Proto-Germanic *weraz Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *h₂életi Proto-Germanic *alaną Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Germanic *-þiz Proto-Germanic *aldiz Proto-Germanic *weraldiz Proto-West Germanic *weraldi Old English weorold Middle English world English world From Middle English world, from Old English weorold (“world”), from Proto-West Germanic *weraldi, from Proto-Germanic *weraldiz (“lifetime, human existence, world”, literally “age/era of man”), equivalent to wer (“man”) + eld (“age”). Eclipsed non-na…