neither use nor ornament
- idiom
- Archaic
:
ni útil ni decorativo
- That broken chair is neither use nor ornament and should be thrown out.
Examples
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The souvenir was neither use nor ornament, just taking up space on the shelf.
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The broken clock is neither use nor ornament.
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After years in the attic, the vase was neither use nor ornament to anyone.
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This old chair is neither use nor ornament.
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The old bicycle in the garage is neither use nor ornament, just collecting dust.
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These outdated gadgets are neither use nor ornament; they are simply cluttering the drawer.
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After years of neglect, the garden tools have become neither use nor ornament to anyone.
Synonyms
550
1.0
Not able to do the job it is made for
133
2.5
An action that will not help
Something that is not useful and not pleasant to look at
Antonyms
How Useful
Surface Forms
Morphology
neither + use + nor + ornament
The phrase is a straightforward negation using the common pattern 'neither X nor Y' so a learner who knows 'neither', 'use', 'nor' and 'ornament' can compose the meaning as 'not useful and not decorative'. The components map directly onto the idiom's sense without metaphorical shift, and the construction is cross-linguistically familiar, so it is immediately recoverable from the parts.
Etymology
Neither use nor ornament is a phrase that gives a clear image: an old thing that is neither use (it works) nor ornament (it looks nice). So, it means 'not useful in any practical way nor attractive or decorative'.