Worldly-wise

adj

adj ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Experienced in the ways of the world; sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

    "I had a natural African American impulse to let this worldlywise middle-aged black woman's maternalism wash over me. And as a post-civil rights African American, I assumed that it was a white audience's job to follow suit."

Adjective
  1. 1
    experienced in and wise to the ways of the world wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
blasecosmopolitandisenchanteddisillusionedexperiencedknowing

Example

More examples

"Though he is so worldly-wise, he is still very young."

Etymology

Compare the synonym worldwise, which has cognates in various West-Germanic languages.

More for "worldly-wise"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.