Meanings
plural worldlinesses
- countableuncountableThe quality of being worldly; familiarity with the ways of the world.
There was a coarseness in the one which revolted the almost fastidious delicacy of the other; and Lady Marchmont, full of poetry, touched with romance and sentiment, had nothing in common with the harsh and hard worldliness of Lady Mary; […]
1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “An Act of Parliament”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 1861 more example
Another thing, which is leaving the divine things with their divinity, the worldly things with their worldliness and the subhuman things with their demoniacality, is, that before a person attains their own redemption and a development of the state about which we were talking with S. Kulovaný, they have to be educated not to themselves destroy the state, attained by a successful initiation, by their worldliness which is rooted in their mind.
2010, Květoslav Minařík, translated by Danica Klempová, “Initiation and self-initiation”, in Yoga and Buddhism in the Life of a Contemporary Person: Collection of Short Texts (The Direct Path; 1), Prague: Canopus, →ISBN, pages 239–240
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality or character of being intellectually sophisticated and worldly through cultivation or experience or disillusionment
nounconcern with worldly affairs to the neglect of spiritual needs
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishworldlynesse
- Englishworldliness
From Middle English worldlynesse, equivalent to worldly + -ness. Compare West Frisian wrâldlikens (“worldliness”), German Weltlichkeit (“worldliness”), Swedish världslighet (“worldliness”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hindi सांसारिकता, लौकिकता
- सांसारिकता (sānsāriktā)the quality of being worldly
- लौकिकता (laukiktā)the quality of being worldly
Indonesian keduniawian
- keduniawianthe quality of being worldly
Malay keduniaan
- keduniaanthe quality of being worldly
Spanish mundo, mundología
- mundothe quality of being worldly
- mundologíathe quality of being worldly
Cite this entry
worldliness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worldliness
“worldliness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worldliness. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “worldliness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/worldliness.
Source: worldliness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.