Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking worth; of no use or value.
  • adjective Low; despicable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of no value or use; valueless; useless.
  • Lacking in or destitute of worth, dignity, excellence, or merit; mean; contemptible.
  • Unworthy; not deserving.
  • Synonyms Unserviceable, unprofitable.
  • Base, vile, depraved, graceless, trashy, trumpery, flimsy, tinsel, trifling, paltry, frivolous.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Destitute of worth; having no value, virtue, excellence, dignity, or the like; undeserving; valueless; useless; vile; mean.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not having worth and use, without value, inconsequential.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective morally reprehensible
  • adjective lacking in usefulness or value

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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