worldling

American

[wurld-ling] / ˈwɜrld lɪŋ /

noun

a person devoted to the interests and pleasures of this world; a worldly person.

Those who sought money and treasures were indiscriminately classed as worldlings and apostates.

worldling British

/ ˈwɜːldlɪŋ /

noun

a person who is primarily concerned with worldly matters or material things

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of worldling

First recorded in 1540–50; world + -ling ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

worldling

I had lived my adulthood as a postmodern man, a worldling of the coasts and cities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2016

A worldling and a wit, Philip Barry is really at home only in a drawing room.

From Time Magazine Archive

The underlying theme is not new to Barry: more than once he pierced to the Puritan inside the worldling, the hair shirt beneath the dinner jacket.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sirs: But why, oh why the "aging worldling."

From Time Magazine Archive

To a clay compounded chiefly of the worldling and the rhetorician there is added a real spark of Promethean fire.

From Mathilde Blind by George Eliot

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023