Dictionary

umbworld en · NOUN

Etymology

From umb- (“around, about”) + world, a calque of German Umwelt (early 19th c.). Compare Dutch omwereld, Swedish omvärld, etc., also from the German.

Meanings

1. (neologism) The surrounding world; the world or sphere about one; the environment.
   • The meanings we generate can definitely be maladaptive and/or destructive. I think the only thing that has saved Homo sapiens so far is that the mathematical averages have been on our side, so that, so far, the meanings we’ve created have been local and contained. Globalization may indeed give us a broader umbworld where our maladaptive ideas could result in the death of us all. 2010, Becoming Jewish, Finding Meaning in Evolution…Maybe:
   • The evolutionary process is far more complex than that (as organisms interact with their umbworld); it is always best to remember to have a parsimonious approach to any and all claims to adaptability or evolutionary function of a trait. 2010, Further Light and Knowledge, evolutionary benefit of homosexuality?:
   • […] as well as chemicals (potentially toxic) used in daily routine in research and educational institutes, industries (e.g., carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic) and in household that may confer danger to the living beings if discharged in the umbworld. 2018, Pankaj,, Sharma, Anita, Microbial Biotechnology in Environmental Monitoring and Cleanup, page 176:
   • Religion has grown out of our folk knowledge, out of our group explanations of the how’s and why’s of the umbworld. 2009, Nature and World Cultures, Religious Ritual and Dissociation:
   • The cosmos knew a soul parted. But I wasn't alone, the umbworld too shed tears with me. 2022, Dhruv Shah, Quill It Out, page 38:
   • The use of chemical nematicides is being limited, given the growing concern for the umbworld and health of human being that has led to its ban. 2021, Heba I. Mohamed, Hossam El-Din Saad El-Beltagi, Kamel A. Abd-Elsalam, Plant Growth-Promoting Microbes for Sustainable Biotic and Abiotic Stress Management:

Forms