1
as in valuelessness
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2
as in inferiority
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Recent Examples of worthlessness
Johnson said depression often manifests as persistent negative self-perception, hopelessness, feelings of worthlessness and social withdrawal.
—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 8 Mar. 2026
Kitty, whose worldly possessions fit into two plastic bags, is seen repeatedly in the same clothes, and bourgeois hostility to her presence in Beth’s middle-class neighborhood compounds her feelings of worthlessness.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2026
Feeling Worthless or Guilty Many people with depression grapple with feelings of worthlessness.
—Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 15 Dec. 2025
Like regular depression, SAD can cause negative feelings like hopelessness, worthlessness, irritability, and guilt; fatigue or reduced energy; a loss of interest in hobbies and activities; and even physical aches and pains (including headaches, cramps, and digestive problems).
—Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 20 Oct. 2025
The feelings of postpartum depression — despair, guilt, shame and worthlessness — began creeping in.
—Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
As many as one in eight women in the United States will experience postpartum depression, which can manifest in feelings such as anger, social withdrawal, and worthlessness, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research.
—Jessica Zucker, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Apr. 2021
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 8 Mar. 2026
Kitty, whose worldly possessions fit into two plastic bags, is seen repeatedly in the same clothes, and bourgeois hostility to her presence in Beth’s middle-class neighborhood compounds her feelings of worthlessness.
—Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2026
Feeling Worthless or Guilty Many people with depression grapple with feelings of worthlessness.
—Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 15 Dec. 2025
Like regular depression, SAD can cause negative feelings like hopelessness, worthlessness, irritability, and guilt; fatigue or reduced energy; a loss of interest in hobbies and activities; and even physical aches and pains (including headaches, cramps, and digestive problems).
—Maggie O'Neill, SELF, 20 Oct. 2025
The feelings of postpartum depression — despair, guilt, shame and worthlessness — began creeping in.
—Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2025
As many as one in eight women in the United States will experience postpartum depression, which can manifest in feelings such as anger, social withdrawal, and worthlessness, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) research.
—Jessica Zucker, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Apr. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worthlessness
Noun
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There’s no one to root for here, an impression that’s underlined by the consistent lack of inferiority within the characters.—
Katie Rife,
IndieWire,
16 Mar. 2026
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Since the 1970s, feminist scholars have been actively documenting the ways menstruation has been used to ground false arguments about women’s weakness, invalidism, and inferiority in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Why do people team up around an emptiness, so much spent breath?—
Julian Bell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
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The scene leaves us wondering about the sudden emptiness.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Noun
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On one side, a satanic figure named Randall Flagg who gathers his forces of badness to Las Vegas; on the other, the good guys, led by 108-year-old Mother Abigail in, of all places, Boulder.—
Barbara Ellis,
Denver Post,
15 Jan. 2026
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The show premiered over Thanksgiving weekend, when people were tired and full and bored (and probably also horny), and countered our world’s unceasing badness with its world’s buoyant sweetness.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Problems shrink into insignificance.—
Shilo Urban,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Nov. 2025
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Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Diners are about being serviceable, in the literal terms of availability and of adequacy.—
Bill Addison,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
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In a district such as Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, which primarily serves Latine students, the schools sit below adequacy levels by $5,000 per student.—
Erykah Nava,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Comment sections, therefore, are also important fields in which the acceptability of certain types of speech is tested and negotiated.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
22 Apr. 2026
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Who is providing the guardrails to mark the boundaries of acceptability?—
Kamal Ahmed,
Fortune,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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To issue an Amber Alert, law enforcement must determine that specific statutory conditions are met, including the age of the child, law enforcement’s belief in imminent danger of serious injury or death, and the sufficiency of existing information to assist in recovery.—
Itay Ravid,
The Conversation,
13 Mar. 2026
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The sufficiency of disapproval to derail Trump’s primary immigration enforcement serves as further damning evidence against the companies and entities that so easily and so quickly capitulated to Trump last year.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Worthlessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worthlessness. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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