worldview
nounEtymology A calque of German Weltanschauung, equivalent to world + view.
1
An individual's, ingroup's or society's view of the world and how it is to be interpreted.
- Near-synonym: cosmovision
- According to the BfV, the JA promotes an ethno-nationalist worldview that ostracizes anyone who is not a native, white German.2023 May 24, Nadine Schmidt and Sophie Tanno, “Germany intensifies scrutiny of far-right AfD, labeling its youth wing ‘extremist’”, in CNN:
2 more examples
- “You have said the actual truth,” Musk tweeted in reply. X users, including many in the tech industry, lambasted the posts, though other users agreed with Musk and said they were gleefully watching him sink into their hateful worldview.2023 November 17, Blake Montgomery, “White House condemns Elon Musk’s ‘abhorrent’ antisemitic tweets”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- The bombing comes over a week after ISD released a report about how nihilistic worldviews are fueling violence in the US and Europe.2025 May 21, Manisha Krishnan, “IVF Clinic Bombing Suspect Was Linked to ‘Anti-Life’ Ideology. Experts Fear Its Growing Influence”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 21 May 2025:
2
The totality of one's beliefs about reality.
- Near-synonym: cosmology
3
A general philosophy or view of life.
- The Elizabethan worldview differs from a modern worldview.
- Human beings feel safe and secure when they can stand confidently in the center of things, either in the center of an age or in the center of a class of people with a common world-view, but when they come to an edge, they feel nervous and unsettled.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light:Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, page 7:
2 more examples
- The Enlightment worldview, which considered the order of "Nature" as a basis and, at the same time, the subject of explorations of scientific natural sciences, has, at the same time, considered this order as a criterion of the artistically-aesthetic qualities of art. From an "ideological" point of view, it liberated art from its feudal religious and courtly servitude.1986, Piotr Buczkowski, Andrzej Klawiter, editors, Theories of Ideology and Ideology of Theories, Rodopi, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 57:
- Some worldviews are based in a belief in God; others are not. Buddhism, Taoism, atheism, Marxism, and existentialism are examples of worldviews that are nontheistic.2009 June 2, Ed Gungor, What Bothers Me Most about Christianity: Honest Reflections from an Open-Minded Christ Follower, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 13:
- Synonyms
- weltanschauung, philosophy, belief system
- Related terms
- NPOV, point of view, POV, viewpoint, world model