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What is the difference between worth and cost?

worth | cost |

As nouns the difference between worth and cost

is that worth is value while cost is manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.

As verbs the difference between worth and cost

is that worth is to be, become, betide while cost is to incur a charge; to require payment of a price.

As a preposition worth

is having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

worth

English

Etymology 1

From worth or wurth, from (etyl) .

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
  • My house now is worth double what I paid for it.
    Cleanliness is the virtue most worth having but one.
  • Deserving of.
  • I think you’ll find my proposal worth your attention.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=May 9 , author=Jonathan Wilson , title=Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Two years after their first European trophy, Atlético were well worth their second.}}
  • (obsolete, except in Scots) Valuable, worth while.
  • Making a fair equivalent of, repaying or compensating.
  • This job is hardly worth the effort.
    Usage notes
    The modern adjectival senses of worth'' compare two noun phrases, prompting some sources to classify the word as a preposition. Most, however, list it an adjective, some with notes like "governing a noun with prepositional force." says, "the adjective ''worth requires what is most easily described as an object." Joan Maling (1983) shows that worth is best analysed as a preposition rather than an adjective. CGEL (2002) analyzes it as an adjective.
    Derived terms
    * for what it's worth/FWIW * more trouble than it's worth * not worth a dime * worth a try * worth every penny * worthful * worth it * worth its weight in gold * worthless * worth one's salt * worth one's while * worth the risk * worthwhile * worthy

    Noun

  • (countable) Value.
  • I’ll have a dollar's worth of candy, please.
    They have proven their worths''' as individual fighting men and their '''worth as a unit.
  • (uncountable) Merit, excellence.
  • Our new director is a man whose worth is well acknowledged.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2012 , date=September 7 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Moldova 0-5 England , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.}}
    Derived terms
    * all one's life's worth * a dime's worth * comparable worth * disworth * jobsworth * money's worth * net worth * pennyworth * self-worth * tuppence worth/tuppenceworth * two pennies' worth * worthen

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.

    Verb

  • (obsolete, except in set phrases) To be, become, betide.
  • * 1843 , , book 2, ch. 3, "Lndlord Edmund"
  • For, adds our erudite Friend, the Saxon weorthan'' equivalent to the German ''werden'', means to grow, to become; traces of which old vocable are still found in the North-country dialects, as, ‘What is word of him?’ meaning ‘What is become of him?’ and the like. Nay we in modern English still say, ‘Woe worth the hour.’ ''[i.e. Woe befall the hour]
  • * 14th century , Pearl poet, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • Corsed worth cowarddyse and couetyse boþe! [i.e. Cursed be cowardice and covetousness both]
    Woe worth the man that crosses me.
    Derived terms
    * outworth

    References

    * * * * Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles , vol.1, pp. 253-289.

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    cost

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) . Cognate with (etyl) (m), (etyl) dialectal . Related to (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.
  • at all costs (= "by all means")
  • Quality; condition; property; value; worth; a wont or habit; disposition; nature; kind; characteristic.
  • Derived terms
    * (l) * (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), from , see below.

    Noun

    (wikipedia cost) (en noun)
  • Amount of money, time, etc. that is required or used.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}
  • A negative consequence or loss that occurs or is required to occur.
  • Derived terms
    {{der3, appraisal cost , at cost , carbon cost , cost and freight , cost avoidance , cost-benefit , cost benefit analysis , cost center , cost control , cost cutting , cost-effective , cost-efficient , cost function , costless , costly , cost objective , cost of business, cost of doing business, cost of sales , cost of living , cost of money , cost overrun , cost per avalable seat mile , cost price , cost-push , design to cost , flotation cost , landed cost , low-cost , marginal cost , opportunity cost , private cost , sunk cost , unexpired cost , unit cost , variable cost}}

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m), .

    Verb

    See Usage notes.
  • To incur a charge; to require payment of a price.
  • :
  • :
  • *
  • *:Thus the red damask curtains which now shut out the fog-laden, drizzling atmosphere of the Marylebone Road, had cost a mere song, and yet they might have been warranted to last another thirty years. A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor;.
  • To cause something to be lost; to cause the expenditure or relinquishment of.
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:though it cost me ten nights' watchings
  • (label) To require to be borne or suffered; to cause.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:to do him wanton rites, which cost them woe
  • To calculate or estimate a price.
  • :
  • Usage notes
    The past tense and past participle is cost'' in the sense of "this computer cost''' me £600", but ''costed'' in the sense of 'calculated', "the project was ' costed at $1 million."
    Derived terms
    * cost an arm and a leg * cost a pretty penny * cost the earth * how much does it cost

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A rib; a side.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • betwixt the costs of a ship
  • (heraldry) A cottise.
  • Statistics

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