variants:
or less commonly worldly wise
Definition of worldly-wise
: possessing a practical and often shrewd understanding of human affairs : worldly sense 2
She was pure but practical, idealistic but worldly-wise.— Andy Levin It's a photographic exhibition, pulling together an exceptionally diverse range of works, from the obvious to some which may surprise the most worldly-wise of old souls.— Ian Mansfield Mabel [Loomis Todd] is quite a woman—complex, resilient, worldly wise, smart and way ahead of her time …— Nancye Tuttle Olympia Dukakis, the self-assured, raspy-voiced actress who often played world-weary and worldly wise characters …— Anita Gates
Test Your Vocabulary
Name That Food
-
- Name these cookies!

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
A daily challenge for crossword fanatics.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share worldly-wise
Time Traveler for worldly-wise
The first known use of worldly-wise was in the 15th century
See more words from the same century