Noun
A diamond's worth is determined partly by its cut and clarity.
The worth of the stocks has increased.
The furniture was of little worth since it was in such bad condition.
He has proved his worth to the team.
The book has proved its worth by saving me hundreds of dollars. Preposition
an actor worth several million dollars
The corporation is worth billions of dollars.
A carefully written cover letter and resume is worth the effort.
It takes a long time to get a table at the restaurant, but the food is well worth the wait.
The movie was good, but I didn't think it was worth all the fuss.
Chicago is worth a visit. I think you'll really like it.
Do you think the car is worth buying?
It is worth noting that his father and mother are also doctors.
This book is not worth reading.
an idea well worth consideration
Recent Examples on the Web: NounIn addition, Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $195 million, and also provide $84 million worth of its generic version of Narcan, a nasal spray that is used to treat opioid overdoses in emergencies.
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Ed Silverman, STAT, 4 Apr. 2022 LooksRare posted eye-popping daily volumes early on, with over $800 million worth of NFTs traded on Jan. 19, per Dune Analytics.
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Anne Sraders, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2022 The New York Yankees are baseball's most valuable franchise, according to Forbes, with a worth of $6 billion (up from $5.25 billion last season).
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Jeremy Cluff, The Arizona Republic, 30 Mar. 2022
The budget proposal contains an additional $1.4 trillion worth of revenue raisers, which would include a higher top tax rate of 39.6% on individuals and an increase in the corporate tax rate to 28%.
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Time, 28 Mar. 2022 To help pay for the moves, Biden is asking Congress to eliminate some $43.6 billion worth of tax incentives cherished by the oil and gas industry, including deductions for intangible drilling costs and low-production wells.
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Jennifer A Dlouhy, Bloomberg.com, 28 Mar. 2022 What followed was a storm of fines — eventually, $13 million worth.
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Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2022 For example, in 2019, 255 crypto exchanges had around $175 billion worth of cryptocurrencies between them, approximately $686 million per exchange.
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Lawrence Wintermeyer, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2022 Fuel aside, a month’s worth of food to feed their family of six cost $300 before the pandemic, but now $700 or more, says his wife, Carlissa Barrott.
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Sarah Matusek, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Mar. 2022 Recent Examples on the Web: PrepositionBoth of those prop bets came through for bettors and there are several others for postseason team performance and individual awards worth keeping an eye on.
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Jason Hoffman, The Enquirer, 13 Jan. 2022 Finally, at a meeting in Zambia, where giraffes and zebras wandered the grounds of the hotel, the board members approved eight projects worth a total of $168 million.
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Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2021 In that case, there are plenty of Memorial Day furniture sales worth a browse.
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Ariel Scotti, Forbes, 28 May 2021 Pompeo also reported receiving two carpets worth a total of $19,400 from the president of Kazakhstan and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.
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Matthew Lee, USA TODAY, 21 Apr. 2021 In that case, there are plenty of Memorial Day furniture sales worth a browse.
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Ariel Scotti, Forbes, 28 May 2021 In that case, there are plenty of Memorial Day furniture sales worth a browse.
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Ariel Scotti, Forbes, 28 May 2021 In that case, there are plenty of Memorial Day furniture sales worth a browse.
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Ariel Scotti, Forbes, 28 May 2021 In that case, there are plenty of Memorial Day furniture sales worth a browse.
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Ariel Scotti, Forbes, 28 May 2021
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'worth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
History and Etymology for worth
Noun
Middle English, going back to Old English weorþ, wyrth (strong neuter noun), going back to Germanic *werþa- (whence also Old Frisian werth, worth "value," Old Saxon werth "payment, price," Old High German werd "value, price," Old Icelandic verð, Gothic wairþ "price"), noun derivative from *werþa-, adjective, "of value" — more at worth entry 3
Middle English, "having monetary value, valuable, having status, deserving, highborn, efficacious, strong," going back to Old English weorþ, wyrþ, worþ "having monetary value, valuable," going back to Germanic *werþa- (whence also Old Frisian werth "of value," Old Saxon werth "of value, worthy, dear," Old High German werd, wert "of value, valuable," Old Icelandic verðr "of value, worthy," Gothic wairþs "deserving"), of uncertain origin
Note:
The Middle English adjective continues in part Old English wierðe, wyrðe "worthy, deserving," a ja-stem adjective from the same base. Welsh gwerth "worth, value, price" (whence gwerthu "to sell"), along with Middle Breton guerz, is perhaps an early loan from Old English.
Verb
Middle English worthen "to exist, be, come into existence, become, change, happen," going back to Old English weorþan, wurþan (class III strong verb) "to become, come to be, happen," going back to Germanic *werþan- (whence also Old Frisian wertha "to become, happen, arise," Old Saxon werthan, Old High German werdan, Old Icelandic verða, Gothic wairþan "to become"), going back to an Indo-European verbal base *u̯ert- "turn," whence also Latin vertō, vertere "to cause to revolve, turn, spin," vertor "(I) change direction, turn," Lithuanian verčiù, ver͂sti "to cause to turn," Sanskrit vártate "(it) turns, rolls, revolves"; with zero-grade ablaut Old Church Slavic vrǔštǫ, vrǔteti sę "to turn oneself"; with a causative stem *u̯ort- Old Church Slavic vraštǫ, vratiti "to make turn," Sanskrit vartáyati "(s/he) makes turn"; from an n-present Old Church Slavic obvrǔnǫti sę "to turn around," Tocharian B wärnāmane "turning"
Note:
In Germanic the Indo-European base *u̯ert- "turn" developed the figurative sense "become, happen" (compare, in English, "the milk turned sour"), which has largely displaced the literal senses (but compare the suffix *-wearda--ward entry 1).
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Time Traveler for worth
The first known use of worth was before the 12th century
See more words from the same century