worth one's while
Idioms-
Merit one's time or efforts, as in It's hardly worth your while to count the transactions; it can be done by computer . [Late 1600s]
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make something worth one's while . Compensate one for one's time or efforts, as in If you take care of our yard while we're away, I'll make it worth your while . [Mid-1800s] Both usages employ while in the sense of “a period of time spent.”
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.
It has never seemed to me quite worth one’s while.
From Odd Numbers Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe by Ford, Sewell
It would have been worth one's while to look at that game of bowls.
From The International Monthly, Vol. II, No. I December 1, 1850 by Various
Surely it is worth one's while to hie early to the haunts of the birds to hear such a tumult of song.
From Our Bird Comrades by Keyser, Leander S. (Leander Sylvester)
In that far-back time an accordeon really was considered worth one's while.
From A Little Girl in Old New York by Douglas, Amanda Minnie
A little attention, which cost nothing, would go a great ways, she said; and it was sometimes worth one's while to make an effort, even if they did not feel like it.
From Ethelyn's Mistake by Holmes, Mary Jane
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.
