Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Good-for-nothing |
Good-for-nothingAdjective1. Without merit; "a sorry horse"; "a sorry excuse"; "a lazy no-count, good-for-nothing goldbrick"; "the car was a no-good piece of junk". Noun1. An idle worthless person. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: Good-for-nothingSynonyms: meritless (adj), no-account (adj), no-count (adj), no-good (adj), sorry (adj), goldbrick (n), good-for-naught (n), goof-off (n), ne'er-do-well (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Good-for-nothing |
| English words defined with "good-for-nothing": Do-naught ♦ good-for-naught ♦ meritless ♦ no-account, no-count, no-good ♦ sorry, Spalpeen. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Steal, swindle, rob. Oh, but don't become one of those useless, good-for-nothing gigolos (Trouble in Paradise; writing credit: Aladar Laszlo; Grover Jones) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Good-for-Nothing (1960) The Good-for-Nothing (1914) Good-for-Nothing Jack (1913) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Good-for-nothing" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 90.00% of the time. "Good-for-nothing" is used about 10 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 90% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Noun (singular) | 10% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 10 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "good-for-nothing". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Raca | N/A | Biblical | Good-for-nothing |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
| Language | Translations for "good-for-nothing"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 不稂不莠 (useless, worthless). (various references) | |
Dutch | onbruikbaar (useless), nutteloos (futile, useless, vain). (various references) | |
Esperanto | sentaŭgulo, sentaŭga (useless). (various references) | |
Finnish | vätys, tyhjäntoimittaja (idler, loafer, loiterer), kunnoton (worthless, wretched), kelvoton (useless, worthless), hylkiö (wastrel), hulttiomainen (worthless), hulttio (waster, wastrel), epäkelpo. (various references) | |
German | Taugenichts (scapegrace). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 與太者 (gangster, hooligan, layabout), 穀潰し , 碌でなし (bum, ne'er-do-well), 出来損い (dead loss, failure, washout), 仕様の無い (hopeless, incorrigible), 仕様のない (hopeless, incorrigible), 困り者 (nuisance, scapegrace, trouble), 与太者 (gangster, hooligan, layabout), 下らない (stupid, trivial, worthless). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しようのない (hopeless, incorrigible), くだらない (stupid, trivial, worthless), できそこない (badly done, dead loss, failure, good for nothing, washout), ごくつぶし, こまりもの (nuisance, scapegrace, trouble), ろくでなし (bum, ne'er-do-well), よたもの (gangster, hooligan, layabout). (various references) | |
Manx | riftan (hooligan, worthless person), rag-rannee (cad, crook, rascal, reprobate, rogue, tough), kecksee (dirty person), gyn y vie (beggarly, dud). (various references) | |
Papiamen | inútil (useless). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ood-for-nothinggay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | galanteador (coquet, dangler, do-naught, kittenish, lady-killer, laggard, masher, philanderer, wooer), pessoa inútil, mulherengo (cad, dangler, do-naught, laggard, womanizer), inútil (useless, futile, needless, vain). (various references) | |
Russian | никчемный (fit for the waste-paper-basket, raff, riffraff). (various references) | |
Thai | บุคคลไร้ประโยชน์, ซึ่งไร้ประโยชน์, คนไม่มีค่า. (various references) | |
Turkish | avare (dawdler, dosser, drifter, idle, idled, rover, straggler, straggling, straggly, strayed, stroller, vagabond, vagrant, wanderer, wandering, yob). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | vô tích sự (frothy, good-for-nought, ne'er-do-well), người vô tích sự (good-for-nought, inutility, lemon, ne'er-do-well), người đoảng (good-for-nought, lemon, ne'er-do-well, scatter-brain). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 28, Verse 19 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Qui operatur terram suam saturabitur panibus qui sectatur otium replebitur egestate |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Who werchith his erthe, shal be fulfild with loeues; who folewith idil reste, shal ben fulfild with nedynesse. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | By ploughing his land a man will have bread in full measure; but he who goes after good-for-nothing persons will be poor enough. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 28, Verse 19 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Kadtong nagabaul sa iyang yuta makabaton ug daghang mga makaon; Apan siya nga nagasunod sa mga tawo sa kakawangan makabaton sa hilabihan uyamut nga kakabus. |
| Croatian | Tko obraðuje svoju zemlju, nasitit æe se kruha, a tko trèi za tlapnjama, nasitit æe se siromaštva. |
| Danish | Den mættes med brød, som dyrker sin Jord, med Fattigdom den, der jager efter Tomhed. |
| Dutch | Die zijn land bouwt, zal met brood verzadigd worden; maar die ijdele mensen volgt, zal met armoede verzadigd worden. |
| Finnish | Joka peltonsa viljelee, saa leipää kyllin, mutta tyhjän tavoittelija saa köyhyyttä kyllin. |
| French | Celui qui cultive son champ est rassasié de pain, Mais celui qui poursuit des choses vaines est rassasié de pauvreté. |
| German | Wer seinen Acker baut, wird Brot genug haben; wer aber dem Müßiggang nachgeht, wird Armut genug haben. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Petani yang bekerja keras akan cukup makanan; orang yang membuang-buang waktu akan berkekurangan. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Barangsiapa yang mengusahakan bendangnya itu akan dikenyangkan dengan makanan, tetapi orang yang menuntut peri malas itu kelak dikenyangkan dengan kepapaan. |
| Italian | Chi lavora la sua terra si sazierà di pane, chi insegue chimere si sazierà di miseria. |
| Maori | ¶ Ko te tangata e ngaki ana i tona oneone, ka makona i te taro; ko te tangata ia e whai ana i te hunga wairangi, ka whiwhi nui ki te rawakore. |
| Norwegian | Den som dyrker sin jord, mettes med brød; men den som jager efter tomme ting, mettes med armod. |
| Portuguese | O que lavra a sua terra se fartará de pão; mas o que segue os ociosos se encherá de pobreza. |
| Rumanian | Cine kwi lucreazq ckmpul are belwug de pkne, dar cine aleargq dupq lucruri de nimic are belwug de sqrqcie. - |
| Russian | лФП ЧПЪДЕМЩЧБЕФ ЪЕНМА УЧПА, ФПФ ВХДЕФ ОБУЩЭБФШУС ИМЕВПН, Б ЛФП РПДТБЦБЕФ РТБЪДОЩН, ФПФ ОБУЩФЙФУС ОЙЭЕФПА. |
| Spanish | El que cultiva su tierra se saciará de pan, pero el que persigue cosas vanas se saciará de pobreza. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "d-f-g-g-h-i-n-n-o-o-o-o-r-t" | |
-5 letters: hoodooing, thronging. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
