Worlds

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /wɝldz/

Definitions

1. A collective term for all existing realms or environments that encompass various dimensions, societies, or ecosystems, often used in imaginative or philosophical contexts
2. Referring to distinct spheres of existence, including physical planets, abstract ideas, and cultural communities that shape human experience
3. It denotes the diverse settings or realities that can be material, conceptual, or social, reflecting different forms of life and existence

Etymology: The plural "worlds" is simply the ordinary plural of "world," so its story is really the story of the singular. "World" comes from Old English "weorold," which traces back to a Proto-Germanic compound meaning roughly "age of man": "wer" meant "man" and "eld" meant "age" or "lifetime." The world, in other words, began as a span of human life rather than as the planet or the cosmos. That origin explains why the word has so many cousins across the Germanic languages, including Dutch "wereld," German "Welt," Swedish "värld," and Icelandic "veröld." Each of them descends from the same compound, and each still carries something of the sense of a human-centred era or existence. Old English eventually gave way in Middle English to a borrowed French word, "monde," which was also used for the world, but the native form survived and displaced it. The plural "worlds" then keeps the sense of several separate realms or ways of existence, which fits the original idea of a world as a lived age.

Synonyms: realms, universes, dimensions, spheres, domains

Antonyms: nothingness, void, emptiness, insignificance, nonexistence