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Worth vs Value - What's the difference?

worth | value |

Value is a synonym of worth.



As nouns the difference between worth and value

is that worth is value while value is the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable.

As verbs the difference between worth and value

is that worth is to be, become, betide while value is to estimate the value of; judge the worth of something.

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

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    Anagrams

    * * ----

    value

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , passage=United were value for their win and Rooney could have had a hat-trick before half-time, with Paul Scholes also striking the post in the second half.}}
  • The degree of importance given to something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Gary Younge)
  • , volume=188, issue=26, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution , passage=WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, […]. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.}}
  • The amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else.
  • * M'Culloch
  • An article may be possessed of the highest degree of utility, or power to minister to our wants and enjoyments, and may be universally made use of, without possessing exchangeable value .
  • * Dryden
  • His design was not to pay him the value of his pictures, because they were above any price.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • (music) The relative duration of a musical note.
  • (arts) The relative darkness or lightness of a color in (a specific area of) a painting etc.
  • * Joe Hing Lowe
  • I establish the colors and principal values by organizing the painting into three values--dark, mediumand light.
  • Numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed.
  • Precise meaning; import.
  • the value''' of a word; the '''value of a legal instrument
    (Mitford)
  • (obsolete) Esteem; regard.
  • (Dryden)
  • * Bishop Burnet
  • My relation to the person was so near, and my value for him so great.
  • (obsolete) valour; also spelled valew
  • (Spenser)

    Synonyms

    * (quality that renders something desirable) worth

    Derived terms

    * valuable * valueless * valueness * economic value * face value * note value * par value * time value

    Verb

    (valu)
  • To estimate the value of; judge the worth of something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.
  • To fix or determine the value of; assign a value to, as of jewelry or art work.
  • To regard highly; think much of; place importance upon.
  • To hold dear.
  • Synonyms

    * appreciate * assess * esteem * prise, prize * rate * respect * treasure * valuate * worthen

    Antonyms

    * disesteem * disrespect

    See also

    * value system

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

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