world-weary

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English

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WOTD – 13 June 2020

Etymology

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From world +‎ weary.[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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world-weary (comparative world-wearier, superlative world-weariest)

  1. Tired of the ways of the world; feeling apathetic or cynical due to one's life experiences.
    Synonyms: jaded, world-wearied
    • [c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 75, column 2:
      O here
      Will I ſet vp my euerlaſting reſt:
      And ſhake the yoke of inauſpicious ſtarres
      From this world-wearied fleſh: […]      ]
    • 1770, [Francis Gentleman], “Zenobia. A Tragedy. Anonymous.”, in The Dramatic Censor; or, Critical Companion, volume I, London: J[ohn] Bell, […], York, Yorkshire: C. Etherington, […], →OCLC, page 401:
      Till you ſhall bid this ſad, world weary ſpirit, / To peaceful regions wing her weary flight.
    • 1838, William Howitt, “Nooks of the World; Or, A Peep into the Back Settlements of England”, in The Rural Life of England: [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, →OCLC, part III, page 252:
      Yes! they are such spots as thousands are longing for; as the day-dreaming young, and the world-weary old, are yearning after, and painting to their mind's eye, daily in great cities; [...]
    • 1850 October, “The Aged Lady”, in Blackwood’s Lady’s Magazine and Gazette […], volume XXIX (New Series), number CLXXIII, London: A. H. Blackwood, Simpkin & Page, […]; Dublin: Bolton and Grant; Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, →OCLC, page 131:
      Those who smiled upon my childhood / Oft round my chair I see, / Who, though grey-haired and world-weary, / Yet grew young again with me!
    • 1970, Bernd Magnus, “Heidegger’s Nietzsche in Critical Perspective”, in Heidegger’s Metahistory of Philosophy: Amor Fati, Being and Truth, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →OCLC, pages 139–140; softcover edition, Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media, 2012, →DOI, →ISBN, part II (Heidegger’s Metahistory of Philosophy), pages 139–140:
      "The doctrine of eternal recurrence as a hammer in the hand of the most powerful …" poses the question: "Do you want this once more and innumerable times more …" as "a doctrine strong enough to have the effect of breeding: strengthening the strong, paralyzing and breaking the worldweary."
    • 1995, Adrian Dannatt, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: James Ingo Freed (Architecture in Detail), London: Phaidon Press, →ISBN, page 5; quoted in Elizabeth Ellsworth, “The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum as a Scene of Pedagogical Address”, in Places of Learning: Media, Architecture, Pedagogy, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2005, →ISBN, page 101:
      [Holocaust memorials and museums] form a specific genre of architecture [...] indeed there may even be a certain world-weary resistance to their proliferation [...].
    • 2003, David Lazar, “On Three Fraternal Aphorisms”, in The Body of Brooklyn (Sightline Books), Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, page 104:
      I've been around the block a few too many times (set 'em up, Joe …). Scott has a depth of family experience far beyond my own; I'm world-wearier and have taken poorer care of myself.
    • 2017, Frank A. Salamone, “1950s Music”, in The Intertwining of Culture and Music: Love and the Times, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 46:
      His [Frank Sinatra's] vocal problems, caused by polyps on his vocal chords, left him with a deeper and huskier voice. A world-wearier one that, along with his publicized personal problems, appealed to an older audience and more sophisticated college students, and replaced the young romantic sound.
    • 2022 September 19, HarryBlank, “Beyond Repair”, in SCP Foundation‎[1], archived from the original on 15 September 2024:
      "Yeah." It was him, alright; if the world's weariest pair of workboots hadn't tipped her off, his world-weary voice certainly would have. "Where were you?"
      "My quarters. We've got a full ticket set today, and techs work best without oversight." Neither of these things was untrue, though the curation was more than a little dishonest.
      "Maybe yours do." Nascimbeni rolled out, back flat against a neon orange creeper, and sat up with an audible wince. "Mine fuck the dog."
  2. Bored with life.
    Synonyms: apathetic, blasé, jaded, world-wearied
    • 1894, I[srael] Zangwill, “Paris”, in Without Prejudice, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1896, →OCLC, part II (Here, There, and Somewhere Else: Philosophic Excursions), pages 309–310:
      In the cafés of the Boule Miche, where the decadent movements are hatched and the fledgling Verlaines come to drown their sorrows in vermouth, you may see the lacklustre visages and tumbled hair of "diabolical" poets and the world-weary figures of end-of-the-century youngsters pledging their mistresses in American grog.
    • 1988, The Geographical Magazine, volume 60, London: Geographical Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 72:
      The drill sergeants are the world weariest of soldiers; and now, goddamit, they have to teach 'girls', no bigger than their kid sisters.
    • 2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club‎[2], archived from the original on 4 November 2019:
      With a low budget and limited resources, he's able to expertly mimic the styles of bigger productions, as in a cafeteria number featuring students dancing and stomping on the tables with tricky Broadway-friendly choreography provided by Sarah Swire, who also plays Steph, a wise-cracking, world-weary American kid abandoned by her wealthy parents.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “world-weary, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, November 2010; “world-weary, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
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