English

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Etymology

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Derived from not worth a dime.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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dime's worth (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) An insignificant amount
    Why is he here? Nothing will change. At best, he'll make a dime's worth of difference.
    • 1941, L.H. Robbins, The New York Times[1]:
      But why, he asks, should a similarly rapt and adoring crowd bank up before a lighted wall niche containing nothing but a dime's worth of daffodils and a couple of sprays of forsythia in a blue dish?

Usage notes

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  • Other short names of small denominations of currency, usually coins, can be substituted for dime, such as nickel, penny, farthing, shilling.
  • One sometimes substitutes for a and occasionally small numbers, such as two.