HOW TO PRONOUNCE
world
/wɝld/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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Work through r, l, and d in order.
Move through r, l, and d in order. Keep them in one syllable, without adding a vowel between l and d.
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“Around the world.”
APG practice sentence · CC BY-SA 4.0
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗What does world mean?
noun
- The subjective human experience, regarded collectively; human collective existence; existence in general; the reality we live in.
- The subjective human experience, regarded individually.
- A majority of people.
More meanings (28)
noun
- The Universe.
- The Earth, especially in a geopolitical or cultural context, or as the physical planet.
- Any of several possible scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
- (Several) alternative scenarios concerning The Earth, either as the physical planet, or in a geopolitical, cultural or societal context.
- A distinct realm, capable of containing objects or inhabitants, which does not physically border other similar realms.
- A planet, especially one which is inhabited or inhabitable.
- Any other astronomical body which may be inhabitable, such as a natural satellite.
- In various mythologies, cosmologies, etc., one of a number of separate realms or regions having different characteristics and occupied by different types of inhabitants.
- A fictional realm, such as a planet, containing one or multiple societies of beings, especially intelligent ones.
- A very large extent of country.
- An individual or group perspective or social setting.
- The part of an operating system distributed with the kernel, consisting of the shell and other programs.
- A subdivision of a game, consisting of a series of stages or levels that usually share a similar environment or theme.
- The twenty-second trump or major arcana card of the tarot.
- (informal) A great amount, a lot.
- (archaic) Age, era.
verb
- To consider or cause to be considered from a global perspective; to consider as a global whole, rather than making or focusing on national or other distinctions; compare globalize.
- To make real; to make worldly.
proper noun
- Earth: the Earth (our earth).
- The Universe: our universe.
- Existence.
- The Third World (the third world).
- The First World (the first world).
- The Second World (the second world).
- The Fourth World (the fourth world).
- The Industrialized World (the industrialized world).
- The Developed World (the developed world).
- The Developing World (the developing world).
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/wɝld/
Pronunciation used in the listening tip.
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
The economy has suffered somewhat in recent years because of the depressed state of the world oil market and declining tax revenues.
“Bring in the whole world. But I refuse to allow that dog to lord it in my nursery for an hour longer.”
More book examples (3)
The dawn in the east looked like the light from some great fire that was burning under the edge of the world.
“Although I am of tin,” said the Woodman, “I own a heart altogether the warmest and most admirable in the whole world.”
National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible, and from the numerous national and local literatures, there arises a world literature.