Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
unworth. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
unworth, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
unworth in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
unworth you have here. The definition of the word
unworth will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
unworth, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English unworth, unwurth, equivalent to un- + worth.
Noun
unworth (uncountable)
- Unworthiness; unworthliness; worthlessness.
1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets:Woe to the People that no longer venerates, as the emblem of God himself, the aspect of Human Worth; that no longer knows what human worth and unworth is!
1917, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Copper Streak Trail:As the lawyer unfolded his plan the partner-clerk, as a devotee of cunning, found himself convicted of comparative unworth; with every sentence he deported himself less like Pelman the partner, shrank more and more to Joey the devil clerk.
1989, Richard Paul Janaro, Thelma C. Altshuler, The art of being human: the humanities as a technique for living:Feeling a sense of unworth, we kill ourselves in a number of ways.
Adjective
unworth (comparative more unworth, superlative most unworth)
- (obsolete) unworthy
Etymology 2
From Middle English unworth, unwurth, from Old English unweorþ, unweorþe (“unworthy, poor, mean, of low estate, worthless, contemptible, ignoble”), equivalent to un- + worth.
Adjective
unworth (not comparable)
- (rare) Not worth; not deserving of.
1894, Paul Leicester Ford, The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him:This was rather pleasant, for she had to give Peter her hand, and so life became less unworth living to Peter.
1916, John Lang, Jean Lang, Stories of the Border Marches:That would be something not unworth boasting about--that he, a sort of eighteenth-century David, should slay this modern Goliath.