great world, the—
1. aristocratic society:
- Thackeray says he is getting tired of being witty, and of the great world.
2. the outside world not limited to one’s inner circle:
- The novelist proper studies to represent his little world as the great world is; whereas the romance-writer builds an ideal world.
3. the universe as a whole:
- These values exist within yourself as they exist in the great world, and you are a microcosmic model of the entire macrocosm.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase wide world, the—
1. the whole world:
- Of all people in the wide world his cousin was the most unyielding to argument.
2. is used to imply contrast to one’s own home or country:
- A few years in the wide world and then back to the home paddock.
greater world, the— = great world, the 3:
- Essential to most theories was the analogy between microcosm and macrocosm, between the world of man and the greater world around him.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase world without end—for ever and ever; eternally:
- They wrote alternately, Bowman supplying the installment for one week, his friend for the next, and so on, world without end, they hoped.
See also: little world / small world.