Word.ws English Dictionary

world

UK/wɜːld//wɝld/

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

Noun

world (plural worlds)

  1. (with "the" or a plural possessive pronoun) 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.
    • There will always be lovers, till the world’s end.
  2. (with "the" or a singular possessive pronoun) The subjective human experience, regarded individually.
    • The period immediately following my divorce seemed like the end of my world.
    • He was my world! [said of a slain companion]
  3. (metonymically, with-definite-article) 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.
  4. The Universe.
  5. (with-definite-article) The Earth, especially in a geopolitical or cultural context, or as the physical planet.
    • People are dying of starvation all over the world.
    • “As the world turns, we know the bleakness of winter, the promise of spring, the fullness of summer and the harvest of autumn–the cycle of life is complete.” - quotation attributed to Irna Phillips.
    Synonyms:
    the earth, Earth, the globe, God's green earth, Sol III, the planet
  6. Any of several possible scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
    • Who would want to live in a world like this?
  7. (countable) (Several) alternative scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
    • the best of all possible worlds. In the French original: le meilleur des mondes possibles. In German: die beste aller möglichen Welten.1710, Gottfried Leibniz, Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal (Essays of Theodicy on the Goodness of God, the Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil)
  8. (countable) A distinct realm, capable of containing objects or inhabitants, which does not physically border other similar realms.
    • He's a highly advanced AI, and this is his world - one that he created from nothing. So, naturally, he has control over... everything. ...But so do we.2026 March 20, Gooseworx, “hjsakldfhl” (21:09 from the start), in The Amazing Digital Circus, episode 8, spoken by Kinger (Sean Chiplock)
    1. (countable) A planet, especially one which is inhabited or inhabitable.
      • Our mission is to travel the galaxy and find new worlds.
      • A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour […]
        A time to sicken and to swoon,
        ⁠When Science reaches forth her arms
        ⁠To feel from world to world, and charms
        Her secret from the latest moon?’1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 35
    2. (broadly, countable) Any other astronomical body which may be inhabitable, such as a natural satellite.
    3. (countable) In various mythologies, cosmologies, etc., one of a number of separate realms or regions having different characteristics and occupied by different types of inhabitants.
      • Frey [...] clambered up on to the Hildskjalf, the throne from which Odin could see everything that happened across the nine worlds.2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 182
    4. (countable) A fictional realm, such as a planet, containing one or multiple societies of beings, especially intelligent ones.
      • the world of Narnia
      • the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  9. A very large extent of country.
    • the New World
  10. An individual or group perspective or social setting.
    • In the world of boxing, good diet is all-important.
    • Welcome to my world.
    Synonyms:
    circle
  11. The part of an operating system distributed with the kernel, consisting of the shell and other programs.
  12. A subdivision of a game, consisting of a series of stages or levels that usually share a similar environment or theme.
    • Have you reached the boss at the end of the ice world?
    • There's a hidden warp to the next world down this pipe.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. The twenty-second trump or major arcana card of the tarot.
  2. (informal) A great amount, a lot.
    • Taking a break from work seems to have done her a world of good.
    • You're going to be in a world of trouble when your family finds out.
  3. (archaic) Age, era.
    • 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), Doway: Laurence Kellam, […], →OCLC, Psalmes 144:13, page 257

Verb

world (third-person singular simple present worlds, present participle worlding, simple past and past participle worlded)

  1. (transitive) To consider or cause to be considered from a global perspective; to consider as a global whole, rather than making or focusing on national or other distinctions; compare globalize.
    • There are by now many feminisms (Tong, 1989; Humm, 1992). [...] They are in shifting alliance or contest with postmodern critiques, which at times seem to threaten the very category 'women' and its possibilities for a feminist politics. These debates inform this attempt at worlding women—moving...1996, Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A feminist international politics, page ix-x
    • In a sense, the dictatorship was a failure of failure and, on that account, it was perhaps the exemplary system of control. Having in 1933 wagered on the worlding of the world in the regime's failure, Heidegger after the war can only rue his opportunistic hopes for an exposure of the ontological...2005, James Phillips, Heidegger's Volk: Between National Socialism and Poetry, Stanford University Press, →ISBN
  2. (transitive) To make real; to make worldly.

Proper noun capitalized: World

World (plural Worlds)

  1. Earth: the Earth (our earth).
  2. The Universe: our universe.
  3. Existence.
  4. The Third World (the third world).
  5. The First World (the first world).
  6. The Second World (the second world).
  7. The Fourth World (the fourth world).
  8. The Industrialized World (the industrialized world).
  9. The Developed World (the developed world).
  10. The Developing World (the developing world).

world meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

world in Hindi

collective/subjective human experience
दुनिया duniyā, लोक lok, विश्व viśva, संसार sansār, जगत jagat, पृथ्वी pŕthvī
inhabited planet
दुनिया duniyā, लोक lok, आलम ālam
the universe
आलम ālam, जहान jahān, दुनिया duniyā
the Earth
दुनिया duniyā, संसार sansār, आलम ālam, भूगोल bhūgol, भूमि bhūmi, जहान jahān

world in Tamil

collective/subjective human experience
செகம் cekam, ஞாலம் ñālam, பார் pār, உலகம் ulakam
inhabited planet
உலகம் ulakam, ஞாலம் ñālam, பார் pār
the Earth
உலகம் ulakam, ஞாலம் ñālam, பார் pār, புவி puvi, பூமி pūmi

world in Marathi

collective/subjective human experience
जग jag
inhabited planet
जग jag
the Earth
जग jag

world in Urdu

collective/subjective human experience
دُنْیا dunyā, دُنِیا duniyā, جَہان jahān, عالَم 'ālam, سَنْسار sansār, زَمانَہ zamāna
inhabited planet
دُنْیا dunyā, دُنِیا duniyā, لوک lok
the Earth
دُنْیا dunyā, دُنِیا duniyā
More languagesFewer languages
world in Bengali
দুনিয়া duniẏa, জাহান jahan, কায়েনাত kaẏenat, বিশ্ব biśśo
world in Telugu
ప్రపంచము prapañcamu, లోకము lōkamu, భూగోళము bhūgōḷamu, భూమి bhūmi
world in Malayalam
ലോകം lōkaṁ
world in Kannada
ವಿಶ್ವ viśva
world in Punjabi
ਦੁਨੀਆ dunīā, دُنِیا dunīyā, دُنیا dunyā, دنیا pnb
world in Gujarati
વિશ્વ viśva, દુનિયા duniyā
world in Odia
ଦୁନିଆ duniā
world in Sanskrit
जगत् jagat
world in Sinhala
ලෝකය lōkaya
world in Assamese
বিশ্ব bisso, জগত zogot, পৃথিৱী prithiwi, দুনীয়া dunia
world in Nepali
संसार sansār
world in Pashto
نړۍ naṛᶕy, عالم 'ālam
world in Tagalog
mundo, Daigdig, sandaigdigan
world in Arabic
عَالَم ʕālam, دُنْيَا dunyā, عالم ʕālam
world in Malay
alam, dunia, jagat, loka
world in Indonesian
dunia, alam, Dunia
world in Persian
جَهان jahân, دُنْیا donyâ, عالَم âlam, گیتی giti
world in Thai
โลก lôok, จักรวาล jàk-grà-waan
world in Vietnamese
thế giới, vũ trụ, trái đất
world in Myanmar
လောက lau:ka., ကမ္ဘာ kambha, စကြဝဠာ ca.kra.wa.la, လောကဓာတ် lau:ka.dhat
Sindhi
دنيا dnyā
Dhivehi
ދުނިޔެ duniye
Dzongkha
འཛམ་གླིང 'dzam gling

Examples of world in a sentence

  • That new wallpaper has made worlds of difference downstairs.
  • This movie isn't even billed as a comedy, but it's worlds funnier than the comedy I saw last month.
  • to think the world of someone
  • to mean the world to someone
  • O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! / O brave new world, / That has such people in 't.1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest:
  • So how do the scientists cope with their work being ignored for decades, and living in a world their findings indicate is on a “highway to hell”?.2024 May 8, Damian Carrington, “‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair. World’s top climate...

All 40 example sentences with world

Synonyms of world

All synonyms of world

Forms of world

Noun
pluralworlds
alternative formvurld
Verb
third-person singular presentworlds
present participleworlding
past participleworlded
pastworlded
Proper noun
pluralWorlds

Plural of world: worlds

Origin of 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-native Middle English mounde (“world”), from Old French monde, munde (“world”). Cognates Cognate with Scots warld (“world”), North Frisian Wārel, wäält, wråål (“world”), Saterland Frisian Waareld (“world”), West Frisian wrâld (“world”), Afrikaans wêreld (“world”), Bavarian Wöd (“world”), Dutch wereld (“world”), German, Luxembourgish Welt (“world”), German Low German Wereld, Werld (“world”), Vilamovian wełt (“world”), Yiddish וועלט (velt, “world”), Danish verden (“world”), Elfdalian wärd (“world”), Faroese verð, verøld (“world”), Icelandic veröld (“world”), Norn vrildan (“the earth”), Norwegian Bokmål verd, verden (“(the) world”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“world”), Swedish värld (“world”).

Words formed from world

Phrases with world

170 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with world

Questions about world

What does world mean?
World means the subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in.
What is world in Hindi?
World in Hindi is दुनिया (duniyā), लोक (lok), विश्व (viśva). See World meaning in Hindi.
How do you use world in a sentence?
That new wallpaper has made worlds of difference downstairs.
What part of speech is world?
World can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce world?
World is pronounced /wɜːld/ (UK).
What is the plural of world?
The plural of world is worlds.

Words near world in the dictionary

  1. workyard
  2. workyards
  3. Worlaby
  4. Worland
  5. Worlands
  6. world
  7. world ash
  8. World Bank
  9. world beat
  10. world building
  11. world capital

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: world (page history and authors); World (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-world.oga, En-ca-world.ogg.

Cite this entry: “world.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/world. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.