as we know it
Meaning
as we know it
In something's current form, which is familiar to the speaker and listener.
the end of the world as we know it
Examples
When we speak the word "life,” it must be understood we are not referring to life as we know it from its surface of fact, but to that fragile, fluctuating center which forms never reach.
The image of the woman as we know it is an image created by men and fashioned to suit their needs.
We stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind us is a past to which we can never return... The coming of the rocket brought to an end a million years of isolation... the childhood of our race was over and history as we know it began.
The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more - if more should be required - the future of human civilization is at stake.
The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective.
The universe as we know it is a joint product of the observer and the observed.