worldly

[ wurld-lee ]

adjective

, world·li·er, world·li·est.

1. of or relating to this world as contrasted with heaven, spiritual life, etc.; earthly; mundane.

   Synonyms: temporal

   Antonyms: spiritual

2. experienced; knowing; sophisticated:

   the benefits of his worldly wisdom.

   Synonyms: cosmopolitan, urbane

3. devoted to, directed toward, or connected with the affairs, interests, or pleasures of this world.
4. of or relating to the people or laity; secular; neither ecclesiastical nor religious.
5. Obsolete. of, relating to, or existing on earth.

adverb

1. in a worldly manner (archaic except in combination):

   worldly-wise; worldly-minded.

worldly

/ ˈwɜːldlɪ /

adjective

1. not spiritual; mundane or temporal
2. Alsoworldly-minded absorbed in or concerned with material things or matters that are immediately relevant
3. Alsoworldly-wise versed in the ways of the world; sophisticated
4. archaic.
   existing on or relating to the earth
5. obsolete.
   secular; lay

adverb

1. archaic.
   in a worldly manner

Derived Forms

• ˈworldliness, noun

Other Words From

• worldli·ness noun
• pre·worldli·ness noun
• pre·worldly adjective
• super·worldli·ness noun
• super·worldly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of worldly¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English wor(u)ldlīc. See world, -ly

Synonym Study

See earthly.

Example Sentences

Seen as worldly and well-credentialed, they are helped by what many describe as an invisible boost in career or academic advancement.

From Los Angeles Times

Although worldly enough to have served as the Kingdom of Savoy’s ambassador to Russia, Maistre detested science and secular learning.

From Salon

But those themes do not satisfy certain paradoxical values that also make up the conservative mindset: a rather irreligious appetite for worldly possessions, and the desire for a pseudo-empirical justification for greed.

From Salon

One popular view pins its reemergence to an emphasis on Renaissance humanism that favored the expression of human potential over man’s need to control their propensity to worldly sin and the beards that tempted them, but more academic theories point to external factors.

From Salon

Why bother assembling at least two full royal courts without throwing in a jaded minister, a worldly wise paramour or a tart-tongued sibling?

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• earthly
• earthy
• mundane
• practical
• secular
• temporal