worldly possessions
3
4.1
- noun
- /ˈwɜrldli pəˈzɛʃənz/
:
posesiones materiales
- I don't have many worldly possessions, but the one that means the most to me—other than my ward Clockie—is my paperback mystery collection.
Examples
-
Clad identically to how we last saw her, Terri clutches a well-stuffed leather bag containing all her worldly possessions.
Fiction book (1992) -
He decided to donate all his worldly possessions to charity before moving to a new country.
-
Give up all your worldly possessions.
Blog text (22) -
I'd trade all his worldly possessions for one good axe.
-
I, Kenneth Waters, being of sound mind, leave all my worldly possessions to my sister, Betty Anne Waters.
-
In front of the tent's opening, she had placed all her worldly possessions, stuffed into an old Sears bag or spread in a careful arc across the hard ground.
Fiction book (2000) -
It didn't take long for Amanda to unpack, since all her worldly possessions fit into a large knapsack, and she wondered what was next.
Fiction book (2000) -
After the natural disaster, many families lost their homes and all their worldly possessions.
-
She spent a year traveling the world with only her worldly possessions in a backpack.
Synonyms
∞
1.4
Something that a person or group owns, for example land and buildings
327
3.9
All the money, property, and debts a person owns when they die
33
3.5
Small personal items a person carries, like clothes or jewelry
16
3.1
Things a person owns that can be moved, like furniture or jewelry
1
5.0
The things a person owns, especially material items
1
3.8
All the things a person owns, like clothes or furniture
1
1.0
Things a person owns and can carry
1
6.1
Things someone owns that can be moved, not land and buildings, like a car or jewelry
Valuable things a person or company owns, like money and buildings
Antonyms
How Many
327
3.9
3
4.1
1
1.0
240
1.7
1
6.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'all material belongings' is directly and transparently derived from 'worldly' (material/temporal) + 'possession(s)' (owned items). The composition follows a straightforward semantic contrast with spiritual goods and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Worldly possessions comes from a simple image: the world stands for everyday, material life and possessions are the things you own. People such as monks who gave up their worldly possessions were leaving the 'world' to focus on 'spiritual' things, so the phrase means 'material belongings'.