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worthly. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
worthly, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
worthly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
worthly you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From Middle English worthely, wurthlich, from Old English weorþlīċ (“important, valuable, splendid, worthy, estimable, honorable, distinguished, exalted, fit, becoming”), from Proto-Germanic *werþalīkaz (“worthy”), equivalent to worth + -ly. Cognate with Old Frisian werdelik,
Old Saxon werthlīk, Old High German werdlīh.
Adjective
worthly (comparative worthlier or more worthly, superlative worthliest or most worthly)
- Having great worth or value; valuable; important; dignified; stately; excellent; worthy; deserving (of).
15th c., “”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 6, lines 184–185:It is not good to be alone, / to walk here in this worthely wone- It is not good to be alone, to walk here in this noble world
1918, American Institute of Mining Engineers, Engineering and mining journal:I hope that the few details set down here will induce more worthly contributions along the same line.
1920, Frank H. Lancaster, Ernest F. Birmingham, The Fourth estate:The enactment and enforcement of laws and the education of advertiser and advertising medium, toward the end that people will have greater confidence in advertising from the fact that advertising will be more worthly of public confidence.
2008, Norman Daniels, Just health: meeting health needs fairly:If they are of equal worth, and that is the basis for equal treatment, then some people should not be considered more worthly simply because they have some trait, such as training, that allows them to make an additional social contribution [...]
Derived terms