good-for-nothing
Americanadjective
noun
-
good-for-nothings
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
"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
Appropriately enough, their sound harks back to the staccato, stuttering beats of 1990s girls bands like TLC and Destiny's Child, complete with lyrics chastising any "trifling good-for-nothing type of brother".
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2022
“Oh, that one! He was a good-for-nothing, and that’s the truth. Ran off with one of those jugglers from the state fair. I remember because she had that red hair.”
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
But now Mr. Berlusconi and the good-for-nothings need each other.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2022
November 18, 2011 1:36 AM One of the most interesting discoveries with OWS is how so many people can be convinced to lump all the protesters into the category of good-for-nothings.
From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 21, 2011
Americans no longer regard the impoverished as lazy good-for-nothings, but it is equally naive to categorize the poor as victims of an affluent majority.
From Time Magazine Archive
“You two good-for-nothings are dismissed,” he said, brushing by them and stalking out of the classroom.
From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins
“Of all the good-for-nothings I have encountered,” shouted Cook, “surely you are the worst, the most cauliflower-eared, the good-for-nothing-est. There’s only one place left for you. The dungeon.”
From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo
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.
