A worthless person
Worthless Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
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[ wurth-lis ]
/ ˈwɜrθ lɪs /
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See synonyms for: worthless / worthlessness on Thesaurus.com
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
Definition of worthless
adjective
without worth; of no use, importance, or value; good-for-nothing: a worthless person; a worthless contract.
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Origin of worthless
First recorded in 1580–90; worth1 + -less
OTHER WORDS FROM worthless
worth·less·ly, adverbworth·less·ness, nounWords nearby worthless
worth, worthful, worthiness, Worthing, Worthington, worthless, worth one's salt, worth one's weight in gold, worth one's while, worthwhile, worthy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
Words related to worthless
barren, bogus, futile, inconsequential, ineffective, insignificant, meaningless, mediocre, pointless, unimportant, unproductive, unprofitable, unusable, useless, abandoned, abject, base, cheap, contemptible, counterproductive
How to use worthless in a sentence
Miss the date, and that card becomes worthless to the customer.
Americans are on track to buy more gift cards this holiday season than ever before|Rachel King|December 24, 2020|Fortune
It’s a remarkable milestone for a currency that’s been written off as worthless more times than I can count.
$20,000 Bitcoin caps Grayscale’s incredible year|Jeff|December 16, 2020|Fortune
Like most quantitative measures, similarity scores are worthless without a decent sample size.
It’s Hard To Measure NFL Matchups, So We Built A Better Metric|Josh Hermsmeyer|November 25, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
His son told him that a voice inside was whispering how worthless he was, how he was hated by everyone.
For months, he helped his son keep suicidal thoughts at bay. Then came the pandemic.|William Wan|November 23, 2020|Washington Post
In fact, the actual game will be free to download from the Nintendo store, but is essentially worthless without a kart.
Nintendo’s new RC Mario Kart looks terrific|Brian Heater|October 2, 2020|TechCrunch
“Before they became something to be saved, they were just worthless,” she writes.
To Catch a Sex Worker: A&E’s Awful, Exploitative Ambush Show|Samantha Allen|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He sold his worthless Current TV cable network to Al Jazeera for $500 million.
Why 2016’s Hopefuls Are Hopeless|P. J. O’Rourke|November 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
After everything I'd gone through, leaving would have made it worthless.
My ‘Kink’ Nightmare: James Franco’s BDSM Porn Documentary ‘Kink’ Only Tells Part of the Story|Aurora Snow|August 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Except, of course, that green coffee is totally worthless as a weight loss supplement in the first place.
Dr. Oz: World’s Best Snake Oil Salesman|Russell Saunders|June 14, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Evidently determined to put his inquisitors in their place, he gave them a worthless answer.
Rubio’s Wrong on Recreational Pot|James Poulos|May 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In other words, if one produces a large enough quantity of anything it becomes worthless.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
A defective acknowledgment by a married woman is worthless, nor will any court compel her to make another one.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
All of it was worthless—except to a man of vision—so, treading lightly, Scattergood went about acquiring what he needed.
Scattergood Baines|Clarence Budington Kelland
They leave large holes which renders the leaf worthless for a cigar wrapper, leaving it fit only for fillers or seconds.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
And he succeeded for the reason that his release was given without consideration and therefore was worthless.
Putnam's Handy Law Book for the Layman|Albert Sidney Bolles
British Dictionary definitions for worthless
worthless
/ (ˈwɜːθlɪs) /
adjective
without practical value or usefulness
without merit; good-for-nothing
Derived forms of worthless
worthlessly, adverbworthlessness, nounCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Worthless Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
worth·less ˈwərth-ləs
1
a
: lacking worth: valueless
worthless currency
b
: useless
worthless to continue searching
2
: contemptible, despicable
a worthless criminal
worthlessly adverb
worthlessness noun
Synonyms
- chaffy
- empty
- junky
- no-good
- null
- vain
- valueless
See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus
Example Sentences
The boots may be nice, but they're worthless if they don't fit you.
She's depressed and believes that she's worthless.
Recent Examples on the Web Regulated crypto exchanges like FTX would have allowed a variety of cryptocurrencies, potentially including the ones that FTX made up and are now nearly worthless, to trade as actual securities. Christopher Mims, WSJ, 19 Nov. 2022 Kardashian was not the only famous personality to endorse the obscure token, which sported a market cap of nearly $250 million in May 2021 but is currently virtually worthless. John Hyatt, Forbes, 11 Nov.
2022 Bankman-Fried owns about 70% of FTX’s US business, which the index now estimates to be essentially worthless. Allison Morrow, CNN, 11 Nov. 2022 The coin, which was effectively worthless before Kardashian posted about it on Instagram, quickly increased in value by 82% to $0.00000051 per coin. Scott Nover, Quartz, 3 Oct. 2022 The material is exceedingly valuable in its versatility, yet worthless in that it can be chucked in the bin after one use. Matt Simon, WIRED, 27 Oct. 2022 Yet, as Proulx writes, since the fifteenth century—when feudalism began to give way to nation states, Western capitalism, and imperialism—it has been perpetuated that peatlands are worthless because the same land drained is valuable for agriculture.
Liam Freeman, Vogue, 25 Oct. 2022 In 1988, Ko Jimmy was studying physics at Rangoon Arts & Sciences University, now the University of Yangon, as protests flared around the country after a snap decision by the ruling party that made many bank notes worthless. Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 26 July 2022 In 1988, Ko Jimmy was studying physics at Rangoon Arts and Sciences University, now the University of Yangon, as protests flared around the country after a snap decision by the ruling party that made many bank notes worthless. Brian Murphy, BostonGlobe.com, 26 July 2022 See More
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'worthless.
' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History
First Known Use
circa 1577, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Time Traveler
The first known use of worthless was circa 1577
See more words from the same year
Dictionary Entries Near
worthlessWorth, Lake
worthless
worth one's weight in gold
See More Nearby Entries
Cite this Entry
Style
MLAChicagoAPAMerriam-Webster
“Worthless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worthless. Accessed 12 Dec. 2022.
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Kids Definition
worthless
adjective
worth·less ˈwərth-ləs
1
a
: lacking worth : valueless
b
: useless
worthless to continue searching
2
: deserving of hatred or pity
a worthless coward
worthlessly adverb
worthlessness noun
More from Merriam-Webster on
worthlessNglish: Translation of worthless for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of worthless for Arabic Speakers
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“I am a useless person with no goals. How to be?
12,797
Know yourselfCareer and self-realization
I am a useless person who does not strive for anything. I dropped out of education in my fourth year, because they stopped making concessions and giving me normal grades.
I had to go to work as a waiter. I was fired from one job, left the other. Now I work as a bartender in a hotel. I come to work to eat. Little money is paid.
I tried psychotherapy, I tried Frontend development courses, everywhere you need to study, think, act meaningfully. And I always do everything somehow thoughtlessly. Either the car is evacuated, or I forget something important ...
I whine inside myself, and this is very annoying: they say, I don’t know how to meet girls, I don’t know what will happen to me next, I don’t know how to do anything ... Unfortunately, I can’t control my thoughts.
Set goals - what kind? I don't know what kind I have... My father advises to open something of my own. But I've never done anything like this, how am I supposed to deal with it? I ask for advice from you - how to be? For it's been 5 years since I've been stuck at this bottom.
Aleksey, 30 years old
Aleksey, I understand your condition very well. Unfortunately, your problem is not unique. According to my observations, a whole generation of people born between the 80s and 90 years, feel the same as you. This is a lack of energy, a lack of understanding of how and in what direction to develop.
This generation does not need to make great efforts to survive. You can easily get a job, earn money for food - you do not have a question of survival. And this can play a cruel joke. After all, if there is no strong motivation from the environment, then a person simply does not form willpower to overcome difficulties and achieve goals.
To begin with, as a psychologist, I would recommend that you test yourself for depression.
Some points from your letter point to it. Perhaps because of this, your attention is scattered, there are difficulties in the implementation of cognitive functions, there is no energy. Maybe you have features of the nervous system that require correction at the physiological level.
And in this case, you need long-term therapy. I can't give you advice on how to deal with this on your own. Perhaps it is obvious to you that you will not get out of this state alone. You need long-term support - the help of a qualified person who will help you set and achieve goals.
First of all, you need to learn how to achieve small goals and understand what you want from life.
The lifestyle that you lead indicates that you have no motivation. Motivation is the energy that comes from setting goals.
If you don't see such a goal in life, then you have no motivation and no energy. Problems with motivation often arise when there are internal barriers and fears of achieving something.
If you had a tough upbringing, you were not allowed to make independent decisions, you were very tightly controlled - all this could affect the fact that you do not know what you want from life.
You are not taught to choose and instead go with the flow of life. You need to learn from people who have been successful. Therefore, all you can do now on your own is to get into the circle of successful, active, purposeful people. It is important for you to just be in this environment, to soak, to light up with this energy. We often want what we have heard about many times.
If you don't have your own preferences, then by communicating with other purposeful people who want different things, you can understand what you want. And, of course, I suggest you read motivational literature: for example, the book Become Your Best Self by Dan Waldschmidt, books by motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins (Become a Giant) or Stephen Covey. You can also read fiction, such as books by Jack London.
These books and conversations with successful people will give you the opportunity to create your own code of values, an inner ideal that will allow you to move forward and act. Of course, this process is not fast. But if you do not want to live your life in vain, then you can change everything.
I wish you good luck and I am sure that everything will work out for you. I judge by the fact that you do not give up. It was not easy to write to the editorial office of the magazine and ask. And if you keep asking questions, you will definitely find answers.
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your couple?An irreplaceable useless person / Sudo Null IT News
It happens like this: a child grows up, smart and savvy.
And everything is easy for him, and everything works out for him. And how he misses the lessons, when after the first example of the teacher, everything is already clear and understandable to him.
And sometimes it's quite the opposite. Everything is given with great difficulty, everything new is always so confusing that you don’t even want to look at it, let alone understand it. Perhaps somewhere there are even special people who invent something confusing. Here they are sitting somewhere and one says to the other:
Hey, let's do something confusing!
- Exactly! - answers the second, - And it must be something new so that everyone has to figure it out.
I don't know what kind of people grow out of what kind of children, however, it is quite obvious that adults are still divided into those who quickly understand everything that they can reach ... well, or what can reach him. And on everyone else.
But if in childhood such a division is considered normal - praise excellent students, scold those who are lagging behind.
All arithmetic: grow up - grow wiser. Then adults can’t help but understand something, what are you !? Everything should have its own opinion, we can and know everything. And if suddenly the topic of conversation is not clear, then you can puff out your cheeks, look into the distance, and pretend that this was relevant for you last fall, now there is nothing to be distracted by it. Well, if someone asks directly, then: “A completely irrelevant question, and in general, this whole topic is covered too one-sidedly. So you think, if you divide the question into components and understand it already differentiated. We get a completely different result. So, I think we need to work deeper in this direction.” Well, you understand.
Of course, the example is very mundane, but it is very similar to the truth at the moment when people get a job. Let's see what happens at work, when there are a lot of such people, and then you get a job there.
At first, everything is the same as always - you are brought up to date, introduced to the environment and responsibilities, and you get to work.
After a couple of weeks, you are already like a fish in your duties, there is a schedule for the week, a plan for the month and thoughts for six months ahead. From time to time you are asked for advice or help. In another "from time to time" your opinion is decisive in some matters. For you, it's easy - because everything new comes easy. They come to you with a question that has been solved for several hours, or even days. For you, one glance is enough, because, firstly, your view on the issue is fresh, and secondly, it can be based on the work already done by a person. And you are happy to help solve such issues. And everything would be fine if it were not for the eternal desire for the least resistance. Everyone strives to do a job in such a way that they do nothing at the same time.
Another month or two passes and timid: “If you have a free moment, can you help me figure out the scheme?” change to quite self-confident: “Listen, there is such a task!”. Increasingly, people come not to get a friendly kick in the right direction, but for a specific solution.
But time, which inexorably erases the boundaries of perception, as well as ambiguity in interaction with colleagues, makes it difficult to catch the moment when something went wrong. You still come to work, you even manage to do something, then you help someone, do something else of your own, still help, still help, do your own, help, do ... no, you don’t have time to do your own, you need to help. And so on until the evening.
Until the end of the week.
All this month.
And now the end of the quarter is just around the corner… hmm. Perhaps, somewhere at this time comes the realization: this will be forever. On the other hand, you like to be at the center of almost everything. It’s nice to be aware of yourself as a person who can solve any issue, it’s even more pleasant to know that everyone around you is aware of you as such a person. Yo-my, but I'm ESSENTIAL! Only one thing prevents you from calming down and living on: it will be like this forever. But you had big plans to promote your projects, and you also wanted to try a new scheme of work in your department .
.. and the bug list has not been closed since last week. Okay, perhaps I won’t be distracted for a week - you think - I’ll finish all the routine. But - the desire for the least resistance.
Everyone around seemed to have agreed, everything is so urgent and complicated for everyone that, without you, there’s no way; you ask not to interfere, swear so as not to distract, threaten, take hostages, but all in vain - by the end of the day your work is done exactly 23.5% of the plan. Every day you fight again and again for the sole control of your time, but you never get back to full-fledged work.
You wanted to do your job well and guide others so they could do their job well. Instead, you are pulling a big cart in which a good half of the work team is sitting. Yes, perhaps in the role of a draft horse you are really indispensable, but practically useless as a specialist.
I think that this place should have been some kind of recipe for people who saw themselves as an indispensable useless person.
