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Jeff_999 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
unworldy v.s unearthly v.s removed from commonplaces
Without seeming unworldly, William James appeared wholly removed from the ---- of society, the conventionality of academe.
A. ethos
B. idealism
C. romance
D. paradoxes
E. commonplaces
I think "removed from the idealism" is compatible with "without seeming unworldly". Here "unworldly" means naive, idealistic I guess. But the answer is E: removed from the commonplaces, which I suppose is analogous to "without seeming unearthly". "Unearthly" means strange or uncommon.
Did I get it right? What's the difference between "unworldly" and "unearthly"?
Thank you in advance.
A. ethos
B. idealism
C. romance
D. paradoxes
E. commonplaces
I think "removed from the idealism" is compatible with "without seeming unworldly". Here "unworldly" means naive, idealistic I guess. But the answer is E: removed from the commonplaces, which I suppose is analogous to "without seeming unearthly". "Unearthly" means strange or uncommon.
Did I get it right? What's the difference between "unworldly" and "unearthly"?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
"worldly" means having knowledge of the world, being familiar with how the world works, especially the social world. "unworldly" is the opposite - not knowing much about the world and how it works. Someone who is unworldly is sometimes said to be someone who "doesn't get out much"!
- "worldly" means having knowledge of the world, being familiar with how the world works, especially the social world.
- "unworldly" is the opposite - not knowing much about the world and how it works.
- Someone who is unworldly is sometimes said to be someone who "doesn't get out much"!
- "unearthly" connotes something weird, impossible on this planet.
- It is used figuratively for unpleasant things: "She had an unearthly voice" means you would not want to hear her sing!
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2 Answers
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"worldly" means having knowledge of the world, being familiar with how the world works, especially the social world. "unworldly" is the opposite - not knowing much about the world and how it works. Someone who is unworldly is sometimes said to be someone who "doesn't get out much"!
"unearthly" connotes something weird, impossible on this planet. It is used figuratively for unpleasan
"unearthly" connotes something weird, impossible on this planet. It is used figuratively for unpleasan
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Thank you, CJ. 
So "without seeming unworldly" means "expecting to appear sophisticated or outstanding"?
So "without seeming unworldly" means "expecting to appear sophisticated or outstanding"? 0
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