good-for-nothing
Americanadjective
noun
noun
adjective
Etymology
Origin of good-for-nothing
First recorded in 1705–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"What can you do with this good-for-nothing pension? Were it not for my son helping me out I'd be unable to buy my medicine," she complained at the march in the capital, Caracas.
From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026
“This is an excuse for good-for-nothing children. Only by adapting to society can you become a person of real value,” another wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 28, 2023
Yet later this year up to 40 healthy Australian volunteers may begin receiving infusions of the supposedly good-for-nothing molecule.
From Science Magazine • Jun. 8, 2023
You may think you’re punishing her lazy, good-for-nothing sisters, but you may in fact be punishing your wife, and I doubt it will cause her to regret or reconsider her support for her sisters.
From Slate • Aug. 25, 2021
“Have a seat. You look like the zopilotes, those nasty good-for-nothing vultures, beat you up and plucked every feather off your pretty wings.”
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
