not worth a whistle
- idiom
- Informal
:
no vale la pena
- The antique vase looked nice, but an expert said it was not worth a whistle.
Examples
-
He realized his old laptop was not worth a whistle compared to modern models.
-
After reading the negative reviews, she decided the book was not worth a whistle.
-
This old car is not worth a whistle.
-
Why would you pay for something not worth a whistle?
-
He realized his old laptop was not worth a whistle when he compared it to modern models.
-
After reading the negative reviews, she concluded that the book was not worth a whistle.
-
The antique vase looked attractive, but the dealer told her it was not worth a whistle.
Synonyms
298
3.0
Has no value or use
5
3.6
Not worth anything or useful
1
8.9
A person or thing that others see as worthless
1
6.2
Of no value or use
Completely without value or use
Not useful and having little value
Antonyms
How Worthless
- Informal
298
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The negation plus 'worth' (not worth a ...) signals lack of value, so a learner who knows these constituents can infer a negative valuation. However, 'whistle' as the unit is arbitrary and idiomatic rather than compositional, so the exact phrasing is partly unpredictable without exposure.
Etymology
The idiom not worth a whistle may come from the idea that a whistle is a very small, cheap thing or a tiny sound. If something is 'not worth a whistle', it is not even worth that little thing, so the phrase now means 'of no value or importance'.