different between worth vs greatness

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /w???/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /w??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)?, -?(?)?

Etymology 1

From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.

Cognate with Dutch waard (adjective), Low German weert (adjective), German wert, Wert, Swedish värd, Welsh gwerth.

Adjective

worth (not comparable)

1. Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.

2. Deserving of.
3. (obsolete, except in Scots) Valuable, worthwhile.
4. Making a fair equivalent of, repaying or compensating.

Usage notes

The modern adjectival senses of worth compare two noun phrases, prompting some sources to classify the word as a preposition. Most, however, list it an adjective, some with notes like "governing a noun with prepositional force." Fowler's Modern English Usage says, "the adjective worth requires what is most easily described as an object."

Joan Maling (1983) shows that worth is best analysed as a preposition rather than an adjective. CGEL (2002) analyzes it as an adjective.

Compare:

• Organic strawberries are worth paying extra money for.
• It's worth paying extra money for organic strawberries.

When "worth" is used as an adjective of a subject, the verb "to be" (usually associated with "worth") is singular or plural in accordance with the subject (in the first example, in the plural). In the other case, shown in the second example, the subject is the pronoun "it".

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

worth (countable and uncountable, plural worths)

1. (countable) Value.

   I’ll have a dollar's worth of candy, please.

   They have proven their worths as individual fighting men and their worth as a unit.

   stocks having a worth of two million pounds

2. (uncountable) Merit, excellence.

   Our new director is a man whose worth is well acknowledged.
3. (uncountable) Wealth, fortune, riches, property, possessions.
4. (uncountable) An amount that could be achieved or produced in a specified time.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English worthen, wurthen, werthen (“to be; exist; come into being; come into existence”), from Old English weorþan (“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþan? (“to come about; happen; come into being; become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn; turn out”).

Cognate with Dutch worden, Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.

Alternative forms

• word

Verb

worth (third-person singular simple present worths, present participle worthing, simple past worth or worthed, past participle worth or worthed or worthen)

1. (obsolete, except in set phrases) To be, become, betide.
   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 3, "Landlord Edmund"

     For, adds our erudite Friend, the Saxon weorthan equivalent to the German werden, means to grow, to become; traces of which old vocable are still found in the North-country dialects, as, ‘What is word of him?’ meaning ‘What is become of him?’ and the like. Nay we in modern English still say, ‘Woe worth the hour.’ [i.e. Woe befall the hour]

   Woe worth the man that crosses me.

   (May good fortune befall you, my friend.)

Derived terms

• forworth

References

• worth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• worth in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• worth at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.

Anagrams

• throw, whort, wroth

Scots

Etymology

From Old English weorþ

Adjective

worth (comparative mair worth, superlative maist worth)

1. Valuable, worth while.

English

Etymology

From Middle English gretnesse, gretnes, greetnesse, from Old English gr?atnes. Equivalent to great +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gr?t?n?s, IPA^(key): /???e?tn?s/
• Hyphenation: great?ness

Noun

greatness (countable and uncountable, plural greatnesses)

1. The state, condition, or quality of being great

   Due to the greatness of his size, he was an effective bodyguard.

   greatness of mind

   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night ACt 3 Scene 4

     Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
2. (obsolete): Pride; haughtiness.
   • 1627, Francis Bacon, New Atlantis

     It is not of pride or greatness that he cometh not aboard your ships.

Translations

See also

• magnum opus
• genius

Anagrams

• Tressange, estranges, seargents, sergeants