worldly

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Concerned with ordinary life and material things rather than with religion or the spirit.

   He gave away all his worldly goods and entered the monastery.

2. 2
   adj

   Experienced and sophisticated about how life and people really work.

   She was far more worldly than the other students in her year.

3. 3
   adv

   In a way that concerns ordinary life rather than the spirit.

   He spoke worldly of money and ambition, never of faith.

From Middle English worldly, worldlich, wordly (adjective), from Old English woruldlīċ, worldlīċ, weoroldlīċ (“worldly; earthly; temporal; mundane; secular”), from Proto-Germanic *weraldilīkaz, equivalent to world + -ly. Cognate with Dutch wereldlijk (“worldly; secular”), German Low German weltlik (“worldly”), German weltlich (“worldly”), Danish verdslig (“worldly”), Swedish världslig (“worldly”), Icelandic veraldlegur (“worldly; secular”).

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