world

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The planet Earth and everything on it.

   People are dying of starvation all over the world.

2. 2
   noun

   All the people living on Earth.

   The whole world watched the final match on television.

3. 3
   noun

   A particular area of life or activity that can be thought of on its own.

   She knows everyone in the world of fashion.

4. 4
   noun

   Everything a person experiences and how it shapes their life.

   The child's world was shattered when she learned the truth.

5. 5
   noun

   Ordinary daily life, seen as separate from religion or the afterlife.

   The monks tried to live apart from the world.

Common collocations

• a world war Adjective + noun
• modern world Adjective + noun
• real world Adjective + noun
• world record Adjective + noun
• change the world Verb + noun
• save the world Verb + noun
• see the world Verb + noun
• travel the world Verb + noun
• natural world Adjective + noun
• outside world Adjective + noun

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…

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