the outside world
the outside world — idiom
1. everyday society and normal routines that a person has been separated from for a
everyday society and normal routines that a person has been separated from for a long time, so that they feel unfamiliar with how life works now
After 15 years in prison, Carlos struggled to get used to the outside world.
used after 'get used to', 'adjust to', 'cut off from'
After a long coma, Aiko found the outside world too noisy and fast.
After decades in a remote monastery, the outside world felt foreign to Maya.
The night-shift nurse rarely saw sunlight, slowly losing touch with the outside world.
The stranded sailors reached shore with no idea how the outside world had changed.
- society at large
more formal and general; lacks the emotional sense of strangeness after isolation
- the real world
overlaps in meaning but can also contrast with fantasy, theory, or a virtual setting
- seclusion
refers to the state of being isolated, not the contrasting society
- confinement
emphasises physical restriction rather than the outside life that contrasts with it
用法筆記
Commonly appears after verbs such as 'adjust to', 're-enter', 'return to', 'cut off from', and 'reconnect with'.