"world of difference" meaning in English

See world of difference in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-world of difference.wav Forms: worlds of difference [plural]
Etymology: First attested in the early 17th century. Etymology templates: {{etydate/the|early 17th century}} the early 17th century, {{etydate|early 17th century}} First attested in the early 17th century Head templates: {{en-noun|worlds of difference}} world of difference (plural worlds of difference)
  1. (idiomatic) A great or insurmountable difference. Tags: idiomatic
    Sense id: en-world_of_difference-en-noun-~PZBer2Z Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 56 44 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 56 44 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 66 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 63 37
  2. (dated, obsolete) A vast swath or expanse of land or water. Tags: dated, obsolete
    Sense id: en-world_of_difference-en-noun-OY8S3Yy9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 42 58 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 55 45
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (Translations): monde de différence [masculine] (French), ogromna różnica [feminine] (Polish)
Disambiguation of 'Translations': 0 100

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "early 17th century"
      },
      "expansion": "the early 17th century",
      "name": "etydate/the"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "early 17th century"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in the early 17th century",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in the early 17th century.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "worlds of difference",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "worlds of difference"
      },
      "expansion": "world of difference (plural worlds of difference)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "66 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "63 37",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There's a world of difference between sushi and poké bowls.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1616 [1615], James VI and I, Pierre Du Moulin, “A Remonstrance for the Right of Kings, and the Independence of Their Crovvnes […]”, in James Montague, editor, The Workes of the Most High and Mightie Prince Iames […], page 479:",
          "text": "There is a world of difference betweene the termes of disobedience, and of deposition. It is one thing to disobey the Kings commaund in matters prohibited by diuine lawes, and yet in all other matters to performe full subiection vnto the King. It is another thing of a farre higher degree or straine of disloyaltie, to bare the King of his Royall robes, throne, and scepter, and when he is thus farre disgraced, to degrade him and to put him from his degree and place of a King.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Theodore Russell Weiss, The Breath of Clowns and Kings: Shakespeare’s Early Comedies and Histories, page 301:",
          "text": "Less than six months separate these two days of the year, but some six or seven years of playwriting have intervened and that world of difference between summer and winter.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, →ISBN:",
          "text": "There is, I think, too much abjectness in this, too much unwillingness to grant that a human being may in fact become, and be, good, and that there is all the world of difference between the evil and the good.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Catherine Moffatt, “Development Unmoored”, in George Jerry Sefa Dei, Arlo Kempf, editors, Anti-Colonialism and Education: The Politics of Resistance, →ISBN, page 235:",
          "text": "The simple exercise of considering these two case studies makes clear the worlds of difference between Northern and Southern experiences of development […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A great or insurmountable difference."
      ],
      "id": "en-world_of_difference-en-noun-~PZBer2Z",
      "links": [
        [
          "great",
          "great"
        ],
        [
          "insurmountable",
          "insurmountable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A great or insurmountable difference."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "42 58",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "55 45",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A vast swath or expanse of land or water."
      ],
      "id": "en-world_of_difference-en-noun-OY8S3Yy9",
      "links": [
        [
          "vast",
          "vast"
        ],
        [
          "swath",
          "swath"
        ],
        [
          "expanse",
          "expanse"
        ],
        [
          "land",
          "land"
        ],
        [
          "water",
          "water"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, obsolete) A vast swath or expanse of land or water."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-world of difference.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 100",
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "monde de différence"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 100",
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ogromna różnica"
    }
  ],
  "word": "world of difference"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "early 17th century"
      },
      "expansion": "the early 17th century",
      "name": "etydate/the"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "early 17th century"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in the early 17th century",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "First attested in the early 17th century.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "worlds of difference",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "worlds of difference"
      },
      "expansion": "world of difference (plural worlds of difference)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "There's a world of difference between sushi and poké bowls.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1616 [1615], James VI and I, Pierre Du Moulin, “A Remonstrance for the Right of Kings, and the Independence of Their Crovvnes […]”, in James Montague, editor, The Workes of the Most High and Mightie Prince Iames […], page 479:",
          "text": "There is a world of difference betweene the termes of disobedience, and of deposition. It is one thing to disobey the Kings commaund in matters prohibited by diuine lawes, and yet in all other matters to performe full subiection vnto the King. It is another thing of a farre higher degree or straine of disloyaltie, to bare the King of his Royall robes, throne, and scepter, and when he is thus farre disgraced, to degrade him and to put him from his degree and place of a King.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1971, Theodore Russell Weiss, The Breath of Clowns and Kings: Shakespeare’s Early Comedies and Histories, page 301:",
          "text": "Less than six months separate these two days of the year, but some six or seven years of playwriting have intervened and that world of difference between summer and winter.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, →ISBN:",
          "text": "There is, I think, too much abjectness in this, too much unwillingness to grant that a human being may in fact become, and be, good, and that there is all the world of difference between the evil and the good.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Catherine Moffatt, “Development Unmoored”, in George Jerry Sefa Dei, Arlo Kempf, editors, Anti-Colonialism and Education: The Politics of Resistance, →ISBN, page 235:",
          "text": "The simple exercise of considering these two case studies makes clear the worlds of difference between Northern and Southern experiences of development […]",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A great or insurmountable difference."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "great",
          "great"
        ],
        [
          "insurmountable",
          "insurmountable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A great or insurmountable difference."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English dated terms",
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A vast swath or expanse of land or water."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "vast",
          "vast"
        ],
        [
          "swath",
          "swath"
        ],
        [
          "expanse",
          "expanse"
        ],
        [
          "land",
          "land"
        ],
        [
          "water",
          "water"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(dated, obsolete) A vast swath or expanse of land or water."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "dated",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-world of difference.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/2a/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-world_of_difference.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "monde de différence"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ogromna różnica"
    }
  ],
  "word": "world of difference"
}

Download raw JSONL data for world of difference meaning in English (4.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-02-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (05fdf6b and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.