unworthy
Americanadjective
-
not worthy; lacking worth or excellence.
- Antonyms:
- commendable, admirable, deserving
-
beneath the dignity (usually followed byof ).
behavior unworthy of a king.
-
of a kind not worthy (often followed byof ).
- Synonyms:
- ignoble, unsuitable, unfit, unseemly
-
not of adequate merit or character.
- Synonyms:
- ignoble, unsuitable, unfit, unseemly
-
not commendable or creditable.
-
not deserving.
noun
-
unworthies
plural
adjective
-
(often foll by of) not deserving or worthy
-
(often foll by of) beneath the level considered befitting (to)
that remark is unworthy of you
-
lacking merit or value
-
(of treatment) not warranted or deserved
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of unworthy
Middle English word dating back to 1200–50; see origin at un- 1, worthy
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:
District Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island, said the department “has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
Honour your joy, do not shy away from the good that is trying to reach you, do not convince yourself that you are unworthy of it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
The Polish Order of the White Eagle bestowed on Zelensky in 2023 by then President Andrzej Duda can be revoked if he is deemed to have "committed an act making them unworthy" of the honour.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
The problem with covering Clavicular is not that he is unworthy of attention.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2026
It is unworthy of it to be cramped.
From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway
Hollow-eyed, gaunt, gorgeously ravaged – Mourinho was already in the habit of using his increasingly odd post-match press conferences to rail against the moles, traitors, cowards and unworthies inside his own dressing room.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 17, 2015
These unworthies were slammed for their books, which he declared “rubbish” and “awful.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 26, 2012
It is the measly little unworthies that nag one to desperation.
From The Lady and Sada San A Sequel to the Lady of the Decoration by Frances Little
Those two unworthies had come forth looking both cowed and excited, and they had rushed up to their rooms to pack their belongings without delay.
From The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island or, The Old Lumberman's Treasure Box by Edward Stratemeyer
During that time, they saw Slugger, Nappy and Codfish a number of times, but all of those unworthies seemed to give them a wide berth.
From The Rover Boys on Snowshoe Island or, The Old Lumberman's Treasure Box by Edward Stratemeyer
For I believe in some future life for the lower animals as well as for their unworthier lord; and in the immortality of all creation.
From My Life as an Author by Martin Farquhar Tupper
The title-page gives a London publisher as well as an Anglo-Athenian one, and Mrs. Johnstone benevolently adapted her labours to her countrywomen and the unworthier Southrons alike.
From Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine by William Carew Hazlitt
Ah! that passage of childhood, what a void it makes in the growing heart; and how quietly its place is filled by unworthier influences.
From The Doctor's Daughter by [pseud.] Vera
It was as Margaret Fuller that she took her place among the leading spirits of her time, and made her brave crusade against its unworthier features.
From Margaret Fuller (Marchesa Ossoli) by Julia Ward Howe
The obstinate calumny of his scepticism served as a pretext to the King's conscience for the unworthier instinct of personal dislike.
From Sir Walter Ralegh A Biography by W. (William) Stebbing
Dare to profane with his unworthiest hand that.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Your unworthiest servant unless your accepting him to be so have mended him Jo.
From A Letter Book Selected with an Introduction on the History and Art of Letter-Writing by George Saintsbury
I know it would cost you a wrench to take me, a greater wrench than to take the least and the unworthiest of your own people.
From Strange Stories by Grant Allen
It is not the King who commands you, but the humblest, the meanest, the unworthiest of mortal men.
From The Proud Prince by Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy
Your unworthiest Servant Except your accepting have mended him John Donne.
From A Letter Book Selected with an Introduction on the History and Art of Letter-Writing by George Saintsbury
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.
