WORTHLESSNESS

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does worthlessness mean? 

• WORTHLESSNESS (noun)
  The noun WORTHLESSNESS has 2 senses:

1. having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful

2. the quality of being without practical use

  Familiarity information: WORTHLESSNESS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORTHLESSNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having no qualities that would render it valuable or useful

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ineptitude; worthlessness

Context example:

the drill sergeant's intent was to convince all the recruits of their worthlessness

Hypernyms ("worthlessness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "worthlessness"):

fecklessness (worthlessness due to being feeble and ineffectual)

groundlessness; idleness (the quality of lacking substance or value)

paltriness; sorriness (worthlessness due to insignificance)

valuelessness (having none of the properties that endow something with value)

shoddiness; trashiness (the quality of being cheaply imitative of something better)

damn; darn; hoot; red cent; shit; shucks; tinker's dam; tinker's damn (something of little value)

emptiness; vanity (the quality of being valueless or futile)

Antonym:

worth (the quality that renders something desirable or valuable or useful)

Derivation:

worthless (lacking in usefulness or value)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of being without practical use

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("worthlessness" is a kind of...):

inutility; unusefulness; uselessness (the quality of having no practical use)

 Context examples 

Other symptoms of depression include feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, loss of pleasure in activities, changes in eating or sleeping habits, and thoughts of death or suicide.

(Depression, NCI Dictionary)

He paused, open-mouthed, on the verge of the pit of his own depravity and utter worthlessness to breathe the same air she did.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Symptoms can include: • Sadness • Loss of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy • Change in weight • Difficulty sleeping or oversleeping • Energy loss • Feelings of worthlessness • Thoughts of death or suicide

(Depression, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)

It can also lead to feelings of worthlessness, imbalances such as oversleeping or insomnia, and trigger thoughts of suicide.

(Depression - men far more at risk than women in deprived areas, University of Cambridge)

The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickham's worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Similar to depression in adults, childhood depression is characterized by a prolonged depressed or irritable mood accompanied by a significant loss of interest in activities, changes in appetite or sleep, decreased energy, feelings of worthlessness, and/or recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

(Childhood Depression, NCI Thesaurus)

Then, last of all, that pale clear-cut face, that sweet clear voice, with its high thrilling talk of the deathlessness of glory, of the worthlessness of life, of the pain of ignoble joys, and of the joy which lies in all pains which lead to a noble end.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This brief account of the family is intended to supersede the necessity of a long and minute detail from Mrs. Thorpe herself, of her past adventures and sufferings, which might otherwise be expected to occupy the three or four following chapters; in which the worthlessness of lords and attorneys might be set forth, and conversations, which had passed twenty years before, be minutely repeated.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He read it over before mailing, and was particularly impressed by its sophomoric amateurishness and general worthlessness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was true the serial was twenty-one thousand words, and they offered to pay him sixteen dollars on publication, which was something like seventy-five cents a thousand words; but it was equally true that it was the second thing he had attempted to write and that he was himself thoroughly aware of its clumsy worthlessness.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)