man of the world

American  

noun

1. a man who is widely experienced in the ways of the world and people; an urbane, sophisticated man.

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man of the world Idioms  

1. Also, woman of the world. A sophisticated person, experienced in social conventions. For example, You can discuss anything with him—he's a man of the world, or She's a woman of the world and understands these delicate issues. The first expression dates from about 1200 and originally meant “a man of the secular world” or “a married man” (that is, not a priest). Shakespeare applied this latter sense in As You Like It (5:3) where Audrey, at the prospect of marriage, says: “I hope it is no dishonest desire to be a woman of the world.” Henry Fielding in Tom Jones (1749) also echoed this earlier sense: “A man of the world; that is to say, a man who directs his conduct in this world as one, who being fully persuaded there is no other, is resolved to make the most of this.” By the mid-1800s the idea of sophistication had replaced this meaning.

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Etymology

Origin of man of the world

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50

Example Sentences

For an Anglo-American child of the present day, what better spirit to hover above the cradle than the ultimate man of the world?

From The New Yorker • May 9, 2019

He’s a man of the world, of humanity, he says.

From Washington Post • Nov. 28, 2017

He was a man of the world, he’d taught all over.

From New York Times • Mar. 17, 2016

Like his model St. Francis, Bergoglio was a man of the world before his ordination at age 32, having first held jobs as a lab technician and a discotheque bouncer.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 17, 2015

Despite his youth, he seemed to me an experienced man of the world.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela