Worthwhile

//ˌwɜː(ɹ)θˈwaɪl// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Good and important enough to spend time, effort, or money on.

    "Doing volunteer work to help others is truly worthwhile."

Adjective
  1. 1
    sufficiently valuable to justify the investment of time or interest wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
usefuladvantageousadvisableappropriatebanausicbecoming

Example

More examples

"So that Michelangelo might paint certain figures on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, so that Shakespeare might write certain speeches and Keats his poems, it seemed to me worthwhile that countless millions should have lived and suffered and died."

Etymology

From worth (adjective) + while (noun).

Related phrases

worth one’s while

More for "worthwhile"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.