world-weary
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of world-weary
First recorded in 1760–70
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.
The world-weary consumer of news might reasonably wonder if we’re headed into another version of climate alarmism.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 4, 2026
Buggy Bear is no exception, the giant bear’s face looks world-weary and slightly apologetic.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 3, 2025
She emerged from the experience battle-scarred and world-weary in 1979 and used her worn-down voice to great effect in a blast of future-forward new wave music called "Broken English."
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2025
For “Stress Positions,” the writer-director Theda Hammel shows her hand when a character says, in a world-weary voice-over, that the madness we’re about to witness “happened so long ago.”
From New York Times • Apr. 18, 2024
He was slow and flaccid, with the kind of world-weary negativism you might find in employees behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant at a highway rest stop.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.