good-for-nothing
Americanadjective
noun
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
Seven rubbed the back of her head and silently cursed her awful luck and that good-for-nothing hexed tree.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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
“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
“You two good-for-nothings are dismissed,” he said, brushing by them and stalking out of the classroom.
From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins
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.
