Definition
adjHaving a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
Sentence Examples
Forget it. It's not worth it.
Your idea is definitely worth thinking about.
The winner will receive fifty pounds' worth of books.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-West Germanic *werþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.
Cognate with Scots wirth (“worth”), Cimbrian bèart (“worth, value”), Dutch waard, weerd (“worth”), German wert (“worth”) (the source of Polish wart (“worth”), Ukrainian вартість (vartistʹ, “worth, value”), etc), Luxembourgish wäert (“worth”), Yiddish ווערט (vert), ווערד (verd, “worth, value”), Danish værd (“worth”), Faroese and Icelandic verður (“worth”), Norwegian Bokmål verdt (“worth”), Norwegian Nynorsk verd (“worth”), Swedish värd (“worth”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸 (wairþ, “worth, value”), Welsh gwerth (“worth, value”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Two years after their first European trophy, Atlético were well worth their second."
— 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:
"Tradesmen relating to Building only, and such of them only as wrought in and about London, could do one Million worth of Work extraordinary;[…]"
— 1690, Sir William Petty, Political Arithmetick, Or a Discourse Concerning the Extent and Value of Lands, People [and] Buildings, page 108:
"A drug dealer and money launderer who was using cryptocurrency to conceal his funds has had over £1.2 million worth of Bitcoins seized, restrained and then converted into British pounds in the first case of its kind."
— 2018 July 19, “More than £1.2 million of Bitcoin seized from drug dealer”, in cps.gov.uk, London: Crown Prosecution Service, retrieved 20 Jul 2018:
"The December 11 Telegraph story, which accused the Treasury of blocking plans for £30 billion worth of electrification across the rail network [...], has rung alarm bells over who is the real source of power concerning rail's development - the Department of Transport or the Treasury?"
— 2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
"Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority."
— 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport: