unworldly
/ʌnˈwəːldli
/adjective
1(Of a person) having little awareness of the practicalities of life; unmotivated by material considerations: a pedantic, unworldly boffin...
- His eldest son is a simple, unworldly soldier, who has lived most of his life in India.
- Far from the stereotypical businessman exploiting unworldly people, he had a refined appreciation for both silk production and the Thai way of life.
- Would this lead me to be suspected as one of those apparently unworldly people who don't ‘get it’?
Synonyms
naive, simple, inexperienced, innocent, green, raw, callow, immature, uninitiated, natural, unaffected, unsophisticated, gullible, born yesterday, ingenuous, artless, guileless, childlike, trusting, credulous, idealistic
non-materialistic, non-material, immaterial;
spiritual, spiritualistic, religious
2Not seeming to belong to this planet; strange: an almost unworldly stillness...
- From now on, the notion of an unworldly pontiff belongs at best to magic-realist fiction.
- He did not know where he was, but despite his strange surroundings and the unworldly heat and glaze, he could tell he was still in a prison.
- He is an expert magician who specializes in debunking those who use magic techniques to claim psychic or otherwise unworldly powers.
Synonyms
unearthly, other-worldly, extraterrestrial, ethereal, ghostly, spectral, phantom, preternatural, supernatural, paranormal, mystical, transcendent, numinous
rare extramundane
Derivatives
unworldliness
- ‘I wanted to do it and I did it,’ she says, slightly amazed at the memory of her own unworldliness.
- He is amused by their unworldliness and their belief that they cannot enforce economy on Government unless they practise it themselves.
- For all his unworldliness, Gray has always been anxious about the reception of his work.