value

American  

[val-yoo] / ˈvæl ju /

noun

values plural

1. relative worth, merit, or importance.

   He knows the value of a college education.

   In chess, the queen has a very high value.

   Synonyms:

   utility

2. monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade.

   This piece of land has greatly increased in value.

3. the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange.

   A weekly allowance can help children understand the value of money.

   When planning how much to give to charity, consider the value of your time as a volunteer.

   Synonyms:

   price, cost

4. equivalent worth or return in money, material, services, etc..

   Employees agree to give value for value received and to perform their duties in an efficient and workmanlike manner.

5. estimated or assigned worth; valuation.

   The painting has a current value of $500,000, according to Sotheby’s.

6. denomination, as of a monetary issue or a postage stamp.

   The 10-cent values of this 1940 U.S. stamp series were issued in lesser quantities than the 2-cent and 1-cent values.

7. Mathematics.

   1. magnitude; quantity; number represented by a figure, symbol, or the like.

      the value of an angle;

      the value of x;

      the value of a sum.

   2. a point in the range of a function; a point in the range corresponding to a given point in the domain of a function.

      The value of x2 at 2 is 4.

8. import or meaning; force; significance.

   The value of a word depends partly on its user and context.

9. favorable regard; liking.

   Some of my immigrant students seemed not to share my high value of their culture.

10. Sociology. values, the attitudes, behaviors, social structures, etc., toward which the people of a society or group have a deeply ingrained, positive or negative emotional regard.

    In the prevailing American system of values, personal liberty is cherished, while lying to the public is condemned.

11. Ethics. any object or quality desirable as a means or as an end in itself.

12. Fine Arts.

    1. degree of lightness or darkness in a color.

       In this painting he pairs greens of different value with the occasional touch of a complementary color.

    2. the relation of light and shade in a painting, drawing, or the like.

13. Music. the relative length or duration of a tone signified by a note.

    In a triplet, the three eighth notes have the same value as two in duple meter.

14. Mining. values, the marketable portions of an orebody.

    The rock must then be processed to extract the values from the ore.

15. Phonetics.

    1. quality.

    2. the phonetic equivalent of a letter, as the sound of a in hat, sang, etc.

---

verb (used with object)

values, present (3rd person singular) valued, past participle, past valuing present participle

1. to regard or esteem highly.

   He values her friendship.

   Synonyms:

   prize

2. to calculate or reckon the monetary value of; give a specified material or financial value to; assess; appraise.

   The company values its assets at 80 million dollars.

3. to consider with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance.

   Don’t rush to decide on this option without first valuing the advantages of privacy and control against the higher cost.

idioms

1. of value, having notable worth, usefulness, or importance.

   Avoid packing items of value in your checked baggage.

   She always contributes something of value to the discussion.

value British  

/ ˈvæljuː /

noun

1. the desirability of a thing, often in respect of some property such as usefulness or exchangeability; worth, merit, or importance

2. an amount, esp a material or monetary one, considered to be a fair exchange in return for a thing; assigned valuation

   the value of the picture is £10 000

3. reasonable or equivalent return; satisfaction

   value for money

4. precise meaning or significance

5. (plural) the moral principles and beliefs or accepted standards of a person or social group

   a person with old-fashioned values

6. maths

   1. a particular magnitude, number, or amount

      the value of the variable was 7

   2. the particular quantity that is the result of applying a function or operation for some given argument

      the value of the function for x=3 was 9

7. music short for time value

8. 1. a gradation of tone from light to dark or of colour luminosity

   2. the relation of one of these elements to another or to the whole picture

9. phonetics the quality or tone of the speech sound associated with a written character representing it

   `g' has the value dʒ in English `gem'

---

verb

1. to assess or estimate the worth, merit, or desirability of; appraise

2. to have a high regard for, esp in respect of worth, usefulness, merit, etc; esteem or prize

   to value freedom

3. (foll by at) to fix the financial or material worth of (a unit of currency, work of art, etc)

   jewels valued at £40 000

value Scientific  

/ văl′yo̅o̅ /

1. Mathematics An assigned or calculated numerical quantity.

2. The relative darkness or lightness of a color. Value measures where a color falls on an achromatic scale from white to black.

3. Compare hue saturation

---

value More Idioms  

1. see at face value.

---

Usage

What are other ways to say value? To value something is to consider it with respect to worth, excellence, usefulness, or importance. How is value different from esteem, appreciate, and prize? Learn more on Thesaurus.com.

Synonym Usage

Value, worth imply intrinsic excellence or desirability. Value is that quality of anything which renders it desirable or useful: the value of sunlight or good books. Worth implies especially spiritual qualities of mind and character, or moral excellence: Few knew her true worth.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonvalue
  noun
• prevalue
  noun
• supervalue
  noun
• misvalue
  verb (used with object)
• outvalue
  verb (used with object)
• self-valuing
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• values
  plural

Participles

• valuing
  present
• valued
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• value
  simple
• values
  simple
• have valued
  perfect
• has valued
  perfect
• am valuing
  progressive
• are valuing
  progressive
• is valuing
  progressive
• have been valuing
  perfect progressive
• has been valuing
  perfect progressive

Past

• valued
  simple
• had valued
  perfect
• was valuing
  progressive
• were valuing
  progressive
• had been valuing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will value
  simple
• will have valued
  perfect
• will be valuing
  progressive
• will have been valuing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of value

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Old French, noun use of feminine past participle of valoir “to be of worth,” from Latin valēre “to be strong, be well, be of worth”; see also wield

Explanation

When you value something, you consider it important and worthwhile. For example, if you value someone’s opinion, you will ask that person's advice before making a big decision. Value has to do with how much something is worth, either in terms of cash or importance. As a verb, it means "holding something in high regard," (like "I value our friendship") but it can also mean "determine how much something is worth," like a prize valued at $200. The noun value also relates to worth, like a used car that is a good value, the value of good health, or the ideals we have, like "My values include honesty and fairness."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

value values valued valuing

The goal is to improve value and customer experience to bring back more cautious shoppers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Already, since mid-July, SpaceX's share price has slipped below its initial listing value.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

In U.S. copyright law, the benchmark for using a copyrighted work without permission is to examine whether it is transformative, adding significant extra value to the output, rather than merely copying the work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

The opening settlement demand by Roh: half of Chey’s assets, which are mostly held in stock of the SK conglomerate’s holding company that also has recently ballooned in value.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Later that very day, investors in the collapsed Bear Stearns hedge funds were informed that their $1.6 billion in triple-A-rated subprime-backed CDOs had not merely lost some value, they were worthless.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

“When real estate and equity values rise faster than GDP, capital may disproportionately go to asset repurchases, sometimes with a lot of leverage,” MGI said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

That, combined with big upward adjustments to rateable values of pub premises, left landlords with the prospect of much higher rates bills.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

“It had to be 3 in the morning, those were the days of those crazy hours,” Witkoff testified at Trump’s 2023 New York civil trial for a decadeslong scheme of lying about his property values.

From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026

In his first annual “state of the district” speech, held at Garfield High in East Los Angeles, Chait, 51, talked of stability, hard work well done and school district family values.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

This was not due to a major change in black values, behavior, or culture; this dramatic shift was the result of deindustrialization, globalization, and technological advancement.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

She also valued the "digitalisation" led by ex-minister Fedorov, describing him as a "good manager", but also warning not to "idealise" the young official.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

The announced investment would be AMD’s first in Anthropic, which is seeking to go public and was recently valued at $965 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026

Ants are eaten, sometimes even valued as a delicacy, in several Asian, African and Latin American cultures.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Moonshot, a startup, is being valued at $31.5 billion in an ongoing funding round.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

In West Africa, rhythm is complex and highly valued, and involves communal/group participation, improvisation, and movement.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Reuters, citing two people familiar with the situation, said the companies are offering $60.50 per PayPal share, valuing the target at over $53 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

In turn, over this period Tether and its advisers prepared for a capital raise valuing the much larger stablecoin at $500bn.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

When Dino did chime in with advice, it was often about controlling the strike zone, being a complete hitter rather than just a slugger, and valuing fundamentals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

But that metric began showing the market was valuing Strategy at a discount to the value of its bitcoins.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

No matter where they were, Indigenous peoples’ governance was based on valuing what was best for the community over the needs or preferences of individuals.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

• benefit
• content
• import
• importance
• meaning
• power
• profit
• purpose
• quality
• sense
• significance
• use
• valuation