worldly-wise
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of worldly-wise
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400
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.
Bellamy version 2.0 may well be more worldly-wise, more focused, more able to channel the passion for the game and his country that has always run deep.
From BBC • Sep. 7, 2024
I loved Ferrell first and foremost because she looked and sounded like my people — red-haired and rotund, but worldly-wise and dry rather than jolly.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 13, 2020
He can also be as worldly-wise as La Rochefoucauld: “It is very hard for a man, however modest, to grasp the possibility that a woman who has once loved him may love him no longer.”
From Washington Post • Jul. 31, 2019
Her voice works perfectly to the non-director’s ear, too: a worldly-wise, whispery Julee Cruise asking a mysterious figure to watch the room and watch the road.
From The Guardian • Mar. 14, 2019
My long tramp through the mud left me tuckered out and just too worldly-wise to go along with the teen scene.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
