1
as in cosmopolitan
having a wide and refined knowledge of the world especially from personal experience
she returned from her year as an exchange student a much more worldly person
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in mundane
having to do with life on earth especially as opposed to that in heaven
preoccupied with worldly concerns
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of worldly
In Woody Allen’s 1979 comedy Manhattan, Hemingway is Tracy, the girlfriend of Allen’s character and only 17, though a worldly 17.
—
Lili Anolik, Vanity Fair, 12 Jan. 2026
Farther east, the Czech Republic, including the pretty UNESCO spa town of Karlovy Vary, is highlighted, as is the vibrant Polish city of Wroclaw and the 18 Michelin Guide restaurants to be found in the other-worldly landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey.
—Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 10 Jan. 2026
While in prison for blasphemy, Lee had a risqué vision of Adam and Eve, and concluded that celibacy was the cure for worldly temptation.
—Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
The menu changes seasonally, with chef Dan Cote featuring local ingredients and a worldly influence, such as the Egyptian spice blend dukkah on the autumn salad.
—Mary Lebus, Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for worldly
Lili Anolik, Vanity Fair, 12 Jan. 2026
Farther east, the Czech Republic, including the pretty UNESCO spa town of Karlovy Vary, is highlighted, as is the vibrant Polish city of Wroclaw and the 18 Michelin Guide restaurants to be found in the other-worldly landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey.
—Maureen O'Hare, CNN Money, 10 Jan. 2026
While in prison for blasphemy, Lee had a risqué vision of Adam and Eve, and concluded that celibacy was the cure for worldly temptation.
—Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
The menu changes seasonally, with chef Dan Cote featuring local ingredients and a worldly influence, such as the Egyptian spice blend dukkah on the autumn salad.
—Mary Lebus, Cincinnati Enquirer, 15 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for worldly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worldly
Adjective
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Though Proust never came to Ireland, his own work also contains echoes of Irish history and culture that epitomize its polymathic, cosmopolitan spirit.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
2 Feb. 2026
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Today, this sophisticated, cosmopolitan center is not just for the sporty, Gore-tex clad crowd.—
Vivian Chung,
Condé Nast Traveler,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Last spring, my colleague Elaine Godfrey wrote about finding joy in mundane places.—
Isabel Fattal,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2026
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Product breadth is huge, some customer tasks may be highly technical, others mundane but requiring accuracy, and others still are more about look and feel.—
Mark Faithfull,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Insights into Alzheimer’s Interestingly, the molecular tricks spiders use to spin their webs are similar to the sophisticated signaling processes found in human neurotransmitter and hormone receptors.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Feb. 2026
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Fleming, who was one of the judges this year, said the event’s growth is indicative of the large number of sophisticated bakeries that have opened in metro Denver in the past few years and of the camaraderie that exists between their pastry chefs.—
Miguel Otárola,
Denver Post,
6 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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In this example the information is temporal, slight, and of little broad use.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
23 Jan. 2026
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It’s shaped around facial proportions, temporal corners, and the way hair naturally grows.—
Wyles Daniel,
USA Today,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Musk justified the deal by saying that AI technologies are currently based on terrestrial data centers but that rising demand for electricity cannot only be met on the earth.—
John Kell,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
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HavocAI’s autonomy stack works equally well on aerial (drones, quadcopters, missiles) and terrestrial (trucks, ATVs and rovers) autonomy assets, as evidenced by the demonstrations in Troia, Portugal (discussed above) and Geoje (discussed below).—
Sabbir Rangwala,
Forbes.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Harald’s physical health has deteriorated in recent years, requiring Haakon to act as regent on occasion.—
Billy Stockwell,
CNN Money,
7 Feb. 2026
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Greenland’s Sermitsiaq reported that Poirier had arrived Friday along with Canada’s delegation, but said the consul doesn’t yet have a physical consulate.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Cognition and sensorimotor functions emerged from the evolutionary pressures of an unpredictable earthly environment.—
Rachel Barr,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
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For reasons still not wholly understood, these ultradense objects—each about the mass of our star squeezed into a bizarre, city-sized ball of degenerate quantum matter—undergo starquakes in which the material on the surface shifts a bit like in an earthly tremor.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Worldly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worldly. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
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