Listen to the author reading this blog post:
If someone told you they were on top of the world you might well guess that they were very happy, but there are a great many ‘world’ idioms whose meaning isn’t quite so clear. In this post, I’ll be looking at the most common and useful of these and, because there are so many, the post will be in two parts.
Let’s start with a nice, positive idiom. The world is your oyster is used to tell someone that there are no limits to what they can do or where they can go:
Once you’ve got that qualification, the world’s your oyster!
Two ‘world’ idioms describe a person’s current state. Someone who is dead to the world is in a deep sleep while someone who is in a world of their own or in another world is awake, but is so focused on their own thoughts that they are not aware of what is happening around them:
I knocked on Jamie’s door to offer him a cup of coffee, but he was dead to the world.
I waved at Hannah to get her attention, but she was in a world of her own.
Two other ‘world’ idioms are used to convey opposite meanings. Someone who doesn’t have a care in the world or who is without a care in the world seems not to be worried about anything, while someone who has the weight of the world on their shoulders appears to be very worried about something:
Look at Sam, strolling along the street without a care in the world!
Poor Ellie looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Meanwhile, another two idioms with ‘world’ say something about differences. If we want to contrast two things (often experiences), we might say that there is a world of difference between them. To express how different two people are, often in their opinions, we sometimes say they are worlds apart:
There’s a world of difference between seeing a place on a screen and actually visiting it.
In our political views, my sister and I are worlds apart.
We’ll look now at three very positive idioms that contain the word ‘world’. Something that is out of this world is excellent in quality. The best of both worlds describes a situation in which you can benefit from the advantages of two different things at the same time. Finally, if you think the world of someone, you love and admire them very much:
The food there is out of this world.
Living here, we get the convenience of urban living plus all the green spaces, so it’s the best of both worlds.
You know your grandma thinks the world of you.
That concludes Part 1 of my ‘Idioms with the word “world”‘ post. I’ll be back with Part 2 in a couple of weeks.
Is “the world is your oyster” a UK English expression? I never heard it in the USA.
English saying. US and UK- same roots. implied meaning “The whole world is yours for the taking” Idioms will be discussed in public forum soon. I live in the North East United States. Maine specifically. I heard this growing up in old movies like “Mr. Limpet”
I hope that information was helpful for you. <3 Ashley E.
It’s definitely common in USA
Guess no one’s ever said it to you
“The world is your oyster”, the best idiom to encourage the youth nowadays!
After browsing through the idioms I feel I am on the top of the 🌏
This blog is out of this world! I absolutely love it. Thanks
Thank you very much Kate for the idioms with the word “world” are very practical and common also in my language. I’ll be looking forward to the part 2.
That did me a world of good
Could we say – “In the hole of the world” in negative meanings?
,❤️❤️❤️
Thank you!
Where does “the world is your oyster” come from? That one seems to be the most opaque; the rest more or less “make sense”. Whereas, owning an oyster really does not suggest that you have much, even though that’s what means.
A good question! The phrase was coined by Shakespeare in his play The Merry Wives of Windsor and originally probably meant something like wealth (because of the pearl inside) but it seems its meaning has evolved somewhat. It is, as you say, rather opaque!
In Colombia, we use the expression “The world is in your hands”, which means the same things, someone who are no limits to what they can do or they can go.
Thanks a lot
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee