Ne'er-do-well

//ˈnɛə.duˌwɛl//

Synonyms for "ne'er-do-well" (56 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (12)

Noun(11 words)

agitator blackguard blatherskite carrion crumb doink fritlag goldbrick good-for-naught good-for-nothing gooey

Adjective(1 words)

good-for-nothing

Strong matches (16)

Noun(15 words)

goof-off harlot hoodlum hool hoolie hooligan instigator jackanapes knave loser lout mischief mischief-maker mite nithing

Adjective(1 words)

never-do-well

Related words (28)

Noun(26 words)

no-account nowmun pelf polisson pot stirrer puny rantipole rat rinky-dink rogue roly-poly ruffian scab scamp schmo scoundrel slubberdegullion stirrer troublemaker truant

Show 6 more words

twerp villain warb worthless person zob zod

Adjective(2 words)

nogoodnik vagabond

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

2 relation types

More general

5 entries

bum do-nothing idler layabout loafer

Related terms

1 entries

ne'er

Sample sentences

7 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

He's just a ne'er-do-well.

Source: tatoeba (9762637)

At home she behaves well but at school she's a ne'er-do-well.

Source: tatoeba (11784614)

So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.

Source: wiktionary

Clara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.

Source: wiktionary

Showing 4 of 7 available sentences.

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