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UNWORTHY
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Morally reprehensible
Example:
a slimy little liar
Synonyms:
despicable; slimy; ugly; unworthy; vile; worthless; wretched
Classified under:
Similar:
evil (morally bad or wrong)
Derivation:
unworthiness (the quality or state of lacking merit or value)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking in value or merit
Example:
unworthy of forgiveness
Classified under:
Similar:
undeserving; unworthy (not deserving)
unmerited (not merited)
unmeritorious (without merit)
Also:
contemptible (deserving of contempt or scorn)
dishonorable; dishonourable (lacking honor or integrity; deserving dishonor)
unrighteous (not righteous)
worthless (lacking in usefulness or value)
Attribute:
worthiness (the quality or state of having merit or value)
Antonym:
worthy (having worth or merit or value; being honorable or admirable)
Derivation:
unworthiness (the quality or state of lacking merit or value)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not deserving
Example:
the undeserving poor
Synonyms:
undeserving; unworthy
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unworthy (lacking in value or merit)
Context examples:
And it may lessen his guilt if I say that it was done in self-defence, and that John Straker was a man who was entirely unworthy of your confidence.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them!
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Calmly turning his back upon young dog and shin-bone, as though both were beneath his notice and unworthy of his consideration, he stalked grandly away.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
But if you would come out with me into that forgotten world; if you would know Boy Jim and Champion Harrison; if you would meet my father, one of Nelson’s own men; if you would catch a glimpse of that great seaman himself, and of George, afterwards the unworthy King of England; if, above all, you would see my famous uncle, Sir Charles Tregellis, the King of the Bucks, and the great fighting men whose names are still household words amongst you, then give me your hand and let us start.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In truth it was humble—but then it was sheltered, and I wanted a safe asylum: it was plodding—but then, compared with that of a governess in a rich house, it was independent; and the fear of servitude with strangers entered my soul like iron: it was not ignoble—not unworthy—not mentally degrading, I made my decision.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Nay, lady, it is a thought which is unworthy of you.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Unworthy! I do not suppose he ever thinks of me.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
As he became rational, he ought to have roused himself and shaken off all that was unworthy in their authority.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
But this was an unworthy feeling.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
