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

“He was becoming a man of the world as a young guy,” Colangelo said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Phoenix.

From New York Times • May 26, 2020

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

From Washington Post • Nov. 28, 2017

Lucas the producer, a man of the world, is a man of the word.

From The New Yorker • Jan. 6, 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

Theo is a man of the world, and he understands how to navigate the line between passion and presentation; Vincent does not.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman