These words refer to things of the world rather than of the spirit, or to things pertaining to public, ordinary or everyday life. Worldly indicates a liking for the goods and pleasures of the world; it often points with disapproval to such a liking when it is stronger than any interest in spiritual matters: a worldly prelate; a minister whose sermons attacked the godless and worldly members of the community. Worldly suggests, as well, a particular kind of sensualist, one who is cosmopolitan and sophisticated. Thus, a farmer with a zest for good food and drink would less likely be called worldly than a city dweller with the same appetites. In one sense, in fact, worldly can be neutral or even approving of such urbanity, suggesting someone who is well-informed, discriminating in taste and wise in the ways of the world: Benjamin Franklin’s ambassadorship to France brought no quaint rustic to the fleshpots of Paris but rather a clever and cultured man in the grand style, both worldly and worldly-wise .

Secular and profane are neither condemnatory nor approving but strictly neutral in classifying those things that pertain to a totally non-religious sphere: a secular drama; profane art. Secular can indicate also something pertaining to the laity rather than the clergy: secular resistance to the church’s attitude towards birth control. Most specifically, secular can refer to a clergyman not bound by monastic vows: a secular priest. Of the two, profane carries the more pejorative connotations of irreverence and contempt for spiritual matters. Mundane refers to things belonging strictly to the ordinary world of everyday affairs, suggesting something practical, routine or dull: idealistic students who criticize their affluent parents for having no concerns beyond the mundane worlds of the office and home. Earthly remains largely confined to religious use, and is directly opposed to heavenly: this earthly paradise; earthly joys.