Meaning of worth in English

worth

adjective

/wɝːθ/ uk

/wɜːθ/

worth adjective (MONEY)

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having a particular value, especially in money:

Our house is worth $200,000.

Heroin worth about $5 million was seized.

informal

having a particular amount of money:

She must be worth at least half a million.

be worth it

to be of reasonable or good value for the price:

be well worth it Four days' car rental costs $150, which is well worth it for the freedom it gives you.

to be enjoyable enough or to produce enough advantages to make the necessary effort, risk, pain, etc. seem acceptable:

It was a long climb to the top of the hill, but it was worth it for the view from the top.

More examplesFewer examples

"I paid $2,000 for this car." "You've been had, buddy. It's not worth more than $1,000."
Thieves broke the store window and carried off jewelry worth thousands of dollars.
Buying those shares was a very far-sighted move - they must be worth ten times their original value now.
Any painting by Van Gogh is worth a fortune.
The country exports goods worth $600 million per annum.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Costs & expenses

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worth adjective (IMPORTANCE)

be worth something

to be important or interesting enough to receive a particular action:

I think this matter is worth our attention.

be worth having/doing something

to be important or useful to have or do:

There's nothing worth reading in this newspaper.

If you are a young, inexperienced driver, it is worth having comprehensive insurance.

It's worth remembering that prices go up in February.

It's worth bearing in mind when you plant these that a hard frost will kill them.

It's certainly worth checking with your home insurer whether these items are covered in the policy.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Useful or advantageous

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Grammar

Worth or worthwhile?

Worth and worthwhile are adjectives. …

Idioms

be worth your/its weight in gold
be worth the while
be worth someone's while
for all you are worth
for what it's worth
if it/a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well
make something/it worth someone's while
not worth the paper something is printed/written on
what's it worth (to you)?
worth your salt

worth

noun

/wɝːθ/ uk

/wɜːθ/

worth noun (MONEY)

[ U ]

the amount of money that something can be sold for; value:

The estimated worth of the plastics and petrochemical industry is about $640 billion.

£20, $100, etc. worth of something

the amount of something that you could buy for $20, $100, etc.:

Over $4 million worth of souvenirs and gift items have been produced for the event.

More examplesFewer examples

He bought a dollar's worth of stamps.
He tried to read books of real worth.
She got her money's worth out of that coat.
The truck contained thousands of dollars worth of contraband.
I've got $20,000 worth of coverage for the contents of my house.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Costs & expenses

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worth noun (IMPORTANCE)

[ U ]

the importance or usefulness of something or someone:

He felt as though he had no worth.

She has proved her worth on numerous occasions.

of worth The study proved that women were paid less than men holding jobs of comparable worth.

More examplesFewer examples

He proved his worth to the team by scoring two goals in the final.
He behaved like a person of great worth.
His worth to the school was incalculable.
The anti-lock brakes proved their worth when the car was nearly involved in an accident.
It was hard to assess the worth of his contribution to the discussion.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Importance - general words

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worth noun (AMOUNT)

a month's, a year's, etc. worth of something

an amount of something that will last a month, a year, etc. or that takes a month, a year, etc. to do:

a month's worth of grocery shopping

Idiom

get your money's worth

(Definition of worth from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

worth | Intermediate English

worth

noun [ U ]

/wɜrθ/

worth noun [U] (MONEY)

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the amount of money that something can be sold for:

The estimated worth of her jewels alone is about $30 million.

A particular amount of money’s worth of something is the amount of money that it costs:

$20 worth of gasoline

worth noun [U] (IMPORTANCE)

the importance or usefulness of something or someone:

a sense of personal worth

Some people are modest to the point of not realizing their true worth.

worth noun [U] (AMOUNT)

an amount of something that will last a stated period of time or that takes a stated amount of time to do:

We got a week’s worth of diapers at the supermarket.

When the computer crashed, we lost six month’s worth of work.

Idioms

worth it

worth your while

worth

adjective [ not gradable ]

/wɜrθ/

worth adjective [not gradable] (IMPORTANCE)

important or useful enough to have or do:

There are only two things worth reading in this newspaper – the TV listings and the sports page.

I don’t think it’s worth talking about any more.

worth adjective [not gradable] (MONEY)

having a value in money of:

They’re asking $10,000 for the car, but I don’t think it’s worth that much.

It is an expensive restaurant, but for special occasions it’s worth it (= the value of what you get is equal to the money spent).

If a person is worth a particular amount of money, the person has that amount or owns things that would cost that amount:

She must be worth at least half a million.

(Definition of worth from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

worth | Business English

worth

adjective [ not before noun ]

/wɜːθ/ us

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having a particular value:

The shares are worth 262p.

Tax cuts worth $10 billion should give businesses a boost.

owning a particular amount of money:

As owner of almost 25% of the company, she's worth an estimated $10 billion.

be worth it

to be of reasonable or good value for the price:

He says the $349 cost was well worth it.

enjoyable enough or producing enough advantages to make the necessary effort, risk, etc. seem acceptable:

We believe the extra time and attention to detail is worth it.

It's been hard work but worth it.

be worth doing

useful, important, or good enough to be a suitable reward for the money or time spent or the effort made:

Many income funds are worth considering since the total return is often better than from a growth fund.

It is worth keeping an eye on rates over the coming weeks.

be worth sth

to be important or interesting enough to be a reason for doing something:

worth a look/try This investment could be risky but it's worth a try.

worth

noun [ U ]

/wɜːθ/ us

the value of something:

They were forced to sell their shares for one-tenth of their worth.

the amount of something that you can buy with a particular amount of money:

$10/€50/£300, etc. worth of sth She bought $200 worth of clothes.

Examples of worth

worth

And would it really be worth it in the end?

From Slate Magazine

Do you think that what happened was in the end worth it?

From NPR

Nothing in life that's worth anything is easy.

From ABC News

Was this album really worth the attention now being paid to it?

From NPR

It's expensive, but it's worth it to us.

From Fast Company

But if it does hit it does trillions of dollars worth of damage.

From San Francisco Chronicle

It's helping to build a community worth scaling.

From Fast Company

I'm here to tell you that it is absolutely worth it.

From San Francisco Chronicle

It's an extra expense, but definitely worth it!

From Huffington Post

I'll be asking questions and continue to watch to see if this move is worth spending the extra dough.

From OregonLive.com

Sure, the right way is a little more difficult, but the results are well worth the effort.

From Huffington Post

But are they worth all the extra taxpayer dollars?

From The Atlantic

You're worth more than that, so go find someone who thinks so, too.

From Huffington Post

At the very least, it sounds worth trying.

From Slate Magazine

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with worth

worth

These are words often used in combination with worth.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

equal worth

But for him, the major question is the contradiction between the democratic notion of equal worth and the persistence of extensive social and economic inequalities.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

inherent worth

No matter what the inherent worth and particular nature of an ideal may be, they will depend solely on the human and moral factors brought to bear upon that ideal.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

intrinsic worth

Such human minutiae enrich and entwine our lives and form a part of their intrinsic worth.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with worth

What is the pronunciation of worth?

B1,B1