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Glite Dictionary
worth the watch

worth the watch

3.2
Good enough that you should see it
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : vale la pena verlo
  • This documentary is truly worth the watch for anyone interested in wildlife.

Examples

  • "There's Something I Need to Tell You" is definitely worth the watch if you missed it on Tuesday night.

    Blog text (16)

  • That right there was worth the watch.

    Blog text (22)

  • These fibbing Americans are worth the watch.

    Blog text (8)

  • If you're interested in shoujo, it's certainly worth the watch/read.

    Blog text (3)

  • I found the film to be worth the watch because of its inspiring story.

  • The series finale was worth the watch after all those years of buildup.

Synonyms

worth it
vsworth the watch
  • Informal
429 3.5

Good enough so the time, effort, or money you spent was not wasted

applies this specifically to time spent looking at it
worthwhile
vsworth the watch
184 3.5

An activity that is good to do because it gives useful or important results

focuses instead on whether spending casual time on it is justified
watchable
vsworth the watch
5 3.4

Good enough to see and enjoy

judges whether time spent looking at it is clearly justified

Antonyms

unwatchable
4 4.6

Too boring or badly made for people to keep watching

How Worthwhile

must-see
14 3.4
worth the watch
  • Informal
3.2
watchable
5 3.4

Surface Forms

worth the watch positive

Morphology

worth + the + watch

The meaning is directly compositional: 'worth' (having sufficient value to merit an action) combined with 'watch' (to view) yields 'worth watching.' The small grammatical shift (verb → noun phrase with 'the') is predictable and mirrors common patterns like 'worth the effort,' so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase worth the watch comes from the simple idea that something is worth the time you spend watching it. Imagine a film that makes every minute feel valuable: the word worth shows value and watch shows the time spent viewing, so we call it 'deserving of being watched'.