not worth a dime
1
6.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
no vale un centavo
Examples
-
"Let a guy sell you a diamond ring... ...for only 10 cents, and chances are you own a ring not worth a dime."
-
Besides, it isn't worth a dime.
-
Either way, this godforsaken museum piece is not worth a dime, now is it, Lars?
-
Our dollar isn't worth a dime, fiat money.
Blog text (19) -
This old computer is not worth a dime and should be recycled.
-
After the storm, the damaged goods were not worth a dime to the store owner.
-
The proposal was so poorly thought out that it was not worth a dime in the meeting.
Synonyms
298
3.0
Has no value or use
88
5.6
Bad or worthless and often causing trouble
5
3.6
Not worth anything or useful
2
6.8
Not useful or worth much
2
9.9
Something of little or no worth
1
8.9
A person or thing that others see as worthless
1
7.0
Having little or no value
1
9.4
Having little value or importance
1
9.6
Has no value and is useless to anyone
1
7.2
Small and not important, usually involving little money
Completely without value or use
Something of very little or no value
A thing that has no value or use
Not useful and having little value
Having little or no value
It has very little value
Very common and not worth much
Antonyms
How Worthless
- Informal
1
6.2
298
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally derived: 'not' negates 'worth' and 'a dime' denotes a very small monetary amount, so the overall sense is that something lacks even minimal value. Although 'dime' is a U.S. coin (which learners must know), the logic 'not worth a small coin' is cross-linguistically common and should be clear to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Not worth a dime may come from the simple picture of a very small coin, the dime. If something is not even worth that tiny coin, it is seen as useless, so the phrase means 'of no value'.