English · Proverb Candidate

the world is someone's oyster

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: the world is your oyster

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

All opportunities are open to someone; the world is theirs.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Cơ hội mở rộng cho ai đó

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Examples

Fal[staff]. I vvill not lend thee a penny. / Piſt[ol]. VVhy then the vvorld's mine Oyſter, vvhich I, vvith ſvvord vvill open.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

One has the opportunity to achieve great things and succeed

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Có cơ hội đạt được thành công lớn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: the world is a place to extract valuable things

Examples

After graduating, she felt that the world was her oyster

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Topics: Animal idioms Success Oysters Crabs & shellfish

Common questions

What does “the world is someone's oyster” mean?

All opportunities are open to someone; the world is theirs.

Is “the world is someone's oyster” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.