worthlessness

noun

1
as in valuelessness

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words
2
as in inferiority

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of worthlessness He is simultaneously convinced of his own worthlessness and angry with the world for failing to recognize his unlimited potential. — Big Think, 29 Apr. 2026 Johnson said depression often manifests as persistent negative self-perception, hopelessness, feelings of worthlessness and social withdrawal. — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 8 Mar. 2026 Kitty, whose worldly possessions fit into two plastic bags, is seen repeatedly in the same clothes, and bourgeois hostility to her presence in Beth’s middle-class neighborhood compounds her feelings of worthlessness. — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2026 Feeling Worthless or Guilty Many people with depression grapple with feelings of worthlessness. — Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 15 Dec. 2025 Like regular depression, SAD can cause negative feelings like hopelessness, worthlessness, irritability, and guilt; fatigue or reduced energy; a loss of interest in hobbies and activities; and even physical aches and pains (including headaches, cramps, and digestive problems). — Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 20 Oct. 2025 The feelings of postpartum depression — despair, guilt, shame and worthlessness — began creeping in. — Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025 As many as one in eight women in the United States will experience postpartum depression, which can manifest in feelings such as anger, social withdrawal, and worthlessness, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research. — Jessica Zucker, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Apr. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worthlessness
  1. emptiness
  2. inferiority
  3. insignificance
  4. badness
  5. adequacy
  6. acceptability
  7. sufficiency
Noun
  • In all of the sketchbook entries reproduced here, Ross seems to offer a bridge between the representation of emptiness and the lived sensation of it.
    — Ryan Sullivan, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026
  • The suburbs promise space yet deliver emptiness, critics charge.
    — Daniel Immerwahr, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of emptiness
Noun
  • Iran’s conventional military power could not match that of Israel or the United States, but Tehran had spent decades building the ability to compensate for its conventional inferiority by creating military capacity outside its territory.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Your instinct might be to see it as proof of your inferiority.
    — Marisa G. Franco, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of inferiority
Noun
  • The rooms were part of Kusama’s ongoing exploration of self-obliteration and her career-long ambition to create work that provokes a keen awareness of both one’s individual insignificance and place in the wider cosmic system.
    — Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Artist Meredith Reynolds believed Platner’s past paled into insignificance when compared with his opponents.
    — David Millward, The Washington Examiner, 7 June 2026
Definition of insignificance
Noun
  • Leaping around in time, Gilroy draws us into Alex’s world with an effervescent wink at the badness of his behavior.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 3 Oct. 2026
  • On one side, a satanic figure named Randall Flagg who gathers his forces of badness to Las Vegas; on the other, the good guys, led by 108-year-old Mother Abigail in, of all places, Boulder.
    — Barbara Ellis, Denver Post, 15 Jan. 2026
Definition of badness
Noun
  • The court allowed friend-of-the-court briefs to be filed over the adequacy of the consent decree.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Public reporting has raised concerns about system stability, new workflows, call handling and callback functionality, delayed information, and the adequacy of hands-on training.
    — Sara Machi, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of adequacy
Noun
  • Attacks aimed at Democrat Abdul El-Sayed have brought back painful memories for some in a contest that has raised questions about the acceptability of Islamophobia in politics.
    — Laura Beveridge, Washington Post, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Today, everyone from the Economist to the New York Times has heralded the coming psychedelics renaissance, as hallucinogens begin to gain greater cultural, medical and commercial acceptability.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 29 July 2026
Definition of acceptability
Noun
  • Eco effort Water sufficiency—including water recycling for irrigation in their treatment plant—in a notoriously dry part of the island is a notable part of the resort’s sustainability efforts.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Rex Frazier, a former deputy commissioner at the California Department of Insurance, said that in the situation that the insurers find themselves, the state regulator will be looking at a company’s capital sufficiency.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of sufficiency

Browse Nearby Words

worthless
worthlessness
worths
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Worthlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worthlessness. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All