why in the world
1
8.1
- idiom
:
¿por qué en el mundo?
- Why in the world is she breaking her back so much, poor thing!
- say, 'why in the world'
So why in the world would she go up those steps?
- So why in the world would she go up those steps?
- And then you're like chasing and you're like, why in the world do I need this right?
- In the past, why in the world would you give one more second of emotional energy to something that is never going to change?
- But I'm thinking why in the world you can just turn the lights off?
Examples
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Why in the world are PF members so obsessed with the French and Spaniards?
Blog text (4) -
I once again am asking myself why in the world do I keep putting myself in these videos?
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So why in the world would she go up those steps?
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So now I wanted to quickly discuss why in the world am I doing this?
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Like, why in the world are we in such a hurry?
Blog text (16) -
I didn't create myself, why in the world should I put up with this?
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Andrea, let me ask you this: why in the world would you even question what I wrote above?
Blog text (16) -
Why in the world does Kanye wear hats?!
Blog text (4) -
And so I'm hoping you guys have some questions about what a carnivore diet is and why in the world you would want to do such a thing.
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So why in the world would she go up those steps?
Synonyms
347
8.9
An angry or surprised question showing you do not believe something
90
8.9
A short cry to show surprise, confusion, disbelief, or casual acceptance
32
2.3
To show strong surprise or doubt in a question
A short phrase people say to show surprise or confusion
Shows surprise when asking why something happened
To ask why someone is doing something when you are annoyed or surprised
How Surprised
1
8.1
- UK
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the interrogative 'why' with a locative metaphor 'in the world' that functions as an intensifier; knowing the constituents gives a learner a good clue that the speaker expresses strong surprise or puzzlement but not the exact pragmatic force. The intensifying use of a locative phrase is somewhat conventionalized and cross-linguistically common, so the relation is partially transparent but requires some exposure to fully predict.
Etymology
Why in the world puts why into the idea of the whole world, as if you looked everywhere for an answer. One popular story says this big image makes the question much stronger, so people use it to show 'surprise' or 'confusion'.