the ways of the world
2
6.0
- idiom
:
las costumbres del mundo
- An experienced mentor can teach young people about the ways of the world.
- wise to the ways of the world
- learned the ways of the world
- teach him the ways of the world
And I said also, she needs to Start learning the ways of the world.
- And I said also, she needs to Start learning the ways of the world.
- They're crass and they don't understand the ways of the world.
- But if we're, you know, kind of wise to the ways of the world, you know, we tend to say maybe that's not the right thing to do, right.
- Well, we saw this before, for example, in the Virtue and the Way of the World section.
Examples
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She quickly learned the ways of the world as she traveled to different countries.
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If you want to succeed in business, you must understand the ways of the world.
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Because the ways of England are the ways of the world.
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The ways of England are the ways of the world, my dear.
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Someone to pull his coat, teach him the ways of the world.
Fiction book (1994) -
Monks turn away from the ways of the world.
Fiction book (1993) -
Mrs. Warshaw knew the ways of the world.
Fiction book (2001) -
Claire was a snob about knowing the ways of the world.
Fiction book (1990) -
Alas, I was too entrenched in the ways of the world and what I thought would last forever.
Blog text (22) -
Sunny remembered how optimistic they were, but how hopelessly inexperienced in the ways of the world.
Fiction book (2001)
Synonyms
193
2.4
The usual habits, beliefs, and actions of a person or group
6
5.0
How people usually behave and how things usually happen
1
7.7
A group's usual customs and daily life
Antonyms
How Worldly
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase's meaning is directly compositional: 'ways' (manners, customs) combined with 'of the world' (worldly affairs/society) yields 'the typical manners or realities of society', which a learner who knows the parts can infer. This noun + of + noun pattern is common across languages and follows standard semantic composition, so a B1 learner familiar with the constituents can reliably understand it.
Etymology
The ways of the world may come from the simple picture of a whole world made of regular ways or habits people follow. So it now means 'how things really are', the usual behavior and practical knowledge people learn from life.