worthless

English

Alternative forms

• worthlesse (obsolete)
• wuffless (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English *worthles, from Old English weorþlēas (“worthless”), equivalent to worth +‎ -less. Cognate with Dutch waardeloos (“worthless”), German wertlos (“worthless”), Swedish värdelös (“worthless”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝθləs/, /ˈwɝθlɪs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːθləs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

worthless (comparative more worthless or worthlesser, superlative most worthless or worthlessest)

1. Having no worth or use; without value.

   Synonyms: inconsequential, miserable, (obsolete) priceless, useless, valueless; see also Thesaurus:worthless

   Antonyms: precious, useful, valuable, worthful, worthy

   Don’t be a worthless slouch! Go get yourself a job.

   Lies are as important as truth, for without lies, the truth is worthless.

   The committee’s decision is worthless and not going to be acted upon.

Derived terms

• worthlessly
• worthlessness

Translations

not having worth and use; without value — see also inconsequential

• Afrikaans: waardeloos
• Arabic: لَا قِيمَةَ لَهُ (lā qīmata lahu), حَقِير (ar) (ḥaqīr)
• Azerbaijani: həqir, dəyərsiz
• Bulgarian: непотребен (bg) (nepotreben), без стойност (bez stojnost)
• Catalan: inútil (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沒價值 / 没价值 (méijiàzhí), 不值錢 / 不值钱 (zh) (bùzhíqián), 無用 / 无用 (zh) (wúyòng)

• Czech: bezcenný (cs)
• Danish: tarvelig, ubrugelig (da), værdiløs (da)
• Dutch: waardeloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senvalora (eo), aĉa (eo), senutila
• Estonian: väärtusetu
• Finnish: arvoton (fi), hyödytön (fi), turha (fi)
• French: misérable (fr), ne vaut rien, nul (fr), sans valeur (fr)
• Georgian: უსარგებლო (usargeblo), უვარგისი (uvargisi), გამოუსადეგარი (ka) (gamousadegari), უფასური (upasuri)
• German: wertlos (de), nutzlos (de), nichtsnutzig (de)
• Greek: ανάξιος (el) (anáxios), άχρηστος (el) (áchristos), τιποτένιος (el) (tipoténios)

  Ancient: μάταιος (mátaios), οὐτιδανός (outidanós)

• Hausa: marasa amfani
• Hebrew: (without value) חסר ערך (ḥɑsɑr ereḥ), (without use) חסר תועלת (ḥɑsɑr toʿelet), עלוב (he) (ʿɑluv)
• Hindi: असार (hi) (asār), बेकार (hi) (bekār)
• Hungarian: értéktelen (hu)
• Ido: senvalora (io)
• Igbo: abaghi uru
• Interlingua: sin valor
• Irish: galair
• Italian: inutile (it), insignificante (it), senza valore
• Japanese: 詰まらない (ja) (つまらない, tsumaranai), 無価値な (ja) (mukachi na), 軽賎な (ja) (keisen na)
• Kazakh: бағаламадың (bağalamadyñ), құндылығы жоқ (qūndylyğy joq)
• Korean: 가치없는 (gachieomneun), 보잘것없는 (ko) (bojalgeodeomneun)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ھیچوپوچ (hîçupuç)

• Latin: inūtilis, nēquam
• Lithuanian: bevertis
• Luxembourgish: wäertlos
• Macedonian: беско́рисен (beskórisen), бе́звреден (bézvreden)
• Maori: hakihakiā, taitāhae
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: verdiløs (no), verdilaus, ubrukelig

  Nynorsk: verdilaus, verdlaus

• Ottoman Turkish: دكرسز (değersiz)
• Pashto: بې کاره (ps) (be kâra)
• Polish: bezwartościowy (pl)
• Portuguese: sem valor, inútil (pt)
• Russian: ничего́ не сто́я́щий (ničevó ne stójáščij), бесполе́зный (ru) (bespoléznyj), никчёмный (ru) (nikčómnyj), никуды́шный (ru) (nikudýšnyj)
• Sanskrit: असार (sa) (asāra)
• Scots: guidless
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бе̏звриједан

  Roman: bȅzvrijedan (sh)

• Spanish: sin valor, inútil (es), intrascendente (es), sin ningún valor, despreciable (es)
• Sundanese: teu aya hargana
• Swedish: värdelös (sv)
• Tagalog: walang kwenta
• Telugu: విలువ లేని (viluva lēni), కొరగాని (te) (koragāni)
• Turkish: değersiz (tr), kıymetsiz (tr), naçiz (tr)
• Uzbek: qiymatsiz
• Vietnamese: vô giá trị (vi) (無價值)
• Yiddish: אָן אַ ווערט (on a vert), ווערטלאָז (vertloz) (Germanism)
• Yoruba: aláìníláárí

Anagrams

• Strehlows, Elsworths