worthy

Formsworthier, worthiest

Pluralworthies

Formsworthies, worthying, worthied

1. 1
   adjective

   Deserving of something, or having sufficient merit to earn it.

   The committee judged the candidate worthy of the highest honor.

   Few causes are as worthy of our support as disaster relief.

   Similardeserving

   Oppositeundeserving

   Note

   Here the word looks ahead to what is earned, so it usually needs a complement. That can be worthy of plus a noun, or worthy to plus a verb, as in the King James Bible of 1611: "Who is worthy to open the book?" Milton in 1659 could drop the of entirely ("a work worthiest your authority"), but modern English keeps it. Without a complement, readers will hear the plain sense of having merit instead.

2. 2
   adjective

   Possessing genuine worth, merit, or value.

   The judges reviewed every worthy entry before reaching a decision.

   He proved himself a worthy successor to the company's founder.

   Similardeserving, meritorious, commendable

   Oppositeundeserving

   Note

   Built in plain sight from worth and the suffix -y, and shared across the Germanic languages: Dutch waardig, German würdig, Swedish värdig. In this broadest sense it praises a thing's quality without saying what that quality earns. Think of Shakespeare's "worthy qualities" or John Davies's "worthy mind". That is why it can stand alone before a noun, with no of or to needed to complete it.

3. 3
   adjective

   Deserving admiration or respect; honorable in character or conduct.

   The town honored a worthy citizen for decades of public service.

   She admired her mentor as a thoroughly worthy and principled woman.

   Similarhonorable, respectable, admirable, virtuous, upright

   Oppositedishonorable, disreputable, contemptible, despicable

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A person of distinction or eminence.

   Each worthy took a seat at the head table for the banquet.

   The hall filled with the county's leading worthies and dignitaries.

   Similardignitary, notable, luminary, personage

   Note

   The noun is simply the adjective standing alone: a worthy is a worthy person, and the plural is worthies. It can carry a mock-solemn edge. The Journal of Agriculture in 1867 calls an animal "that worthy" just as it is caught in "culpable talpicide", killing moles against its master's orders. When you mean plain praise, make sure the context does not invite that smile.

5. 5
   adjective

   Suitable, fitting, or befitting a particular purpose or occasion.

   The ceremony was an ending worthy of such a remarkable career.

   She wore a gown worthy of the grand state occasion.

   Similarbefitting, fitting, suitable, appropriate

   Oppositeunsuitable, inappropriate, unbefitting

   Note

   Fitness rather than desert is the point here, though the two shade into each other. In Dryden's Virgil of 1697, a lodging "well worthy of the guest" has earned nothing; it simply suits. Well is the natural intensifier. Older English also let a that-clause follow, as in Milton's "thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know more happiness". Today one would recast that with deserve.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   Someone distinguished by wisdom and virtue as well as goodness of character.

   Confucius praised the worthy who governs the people with benevolence.

   The ruler surrounded himself with worthies who valued virtue over wealth.

   Similarsage, paragon

   Note

   A term of art in Confucian ethics, where it renders xianren (賢人). It names a person of cultivated virtue and wisdom who ranks below the sage but above ordinary people. The two ranks often travel together, capitalized, as in "the Sages and Worthies of Confucianism," a phrase used of Confucius and Mencius. The rank is one of moral attainment, unlike the eminent-person noun, which marks social standing.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To treat or regard as worthy; to honor, revere, esteem, or value highly.

   Poets of old would worthy their patrons in long verses of praise.

   The faithful worthy the saints with candles, songs, and prayers.

   Similarhonor, revere, venerate, praise, esteem

   Note

   A separate word from the adjective, despite the shared spelling. It comes from Old English weorþian, "to honor, praise, adorn, reward", whose Germanic ancestor meant "to be worthy, to appraise". It appears in Shakespeare's King Lear and survives into the early 1900s. One construction stands out: worthying someone with a look or a song, meaning to grant them even that much notice, often in the negative. Its forms are worthied and worthying.

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