worthwhile
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- worthwhileness noun
Etymology
Origin of worthwhile
Explanation
Things that are worthwhile are good — they're worth the time or money you spend on them. If you walked out of the theater and said "Wow, I'm glad I saw that movie!", then your film viewing trip was worthwhile. If going to the gym helped you get in better shape, it was worthwhile. If hanging out in the park made you happy, it was worthwhile. If something is a total waste of time and you wish you hadn't done it, then it wasn't worthwhile.
Vocabulary lists containing worthwhile
Because of Mr. Terupt
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List 9
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"The Ugly One," Vocabulary from Chapters 21-25
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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.
That education by osmosis is part of what makes traveling seven to 12 days a month worthwhile as a young dad with a 4-year-old and 9-month-old at home.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
Sections of Australia, though, question whether these inquiries and prosecutions are a worthwhile pursuit.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
The fancy buckets are expensive to produce, but Cinemark considers them worthwhile because they augment popcorn and soda sales, he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
The sheer scale of space and what’s being attempted made tuning in to see NASA’s Artemis II External link launch Wednesday night worthwhile.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
More than that, though, they were hard up against the fact that a few minutes of extreme exertion were about to tell them whether five and a half months of training had been worthwhile.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
