Word.ws English Dictionary

for what it's worth

for what it's worth prepositional phrase: considering what limited worth this advice, opinion, or suggestion might have for you; used to soften the presentation of unsolicited advice or information that may not be relevant.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Considering what limited worth this advice, opinion, or suggestion might have for you; used to soften the presentation of unsolicited advice or information that may not be relevant.
    • Take my advice for what it’s worth—don’t marry Garth: marry some old fool.1877, Julian Hawthorne, Garth, page 343
    • “Well,” said he, “I have a suggestion to make, for what it’s worth.”1908, Armand Both, The Half-smart Set, Frederick A. Stokes Company, page 276
    Synonyms:
    FWIW

Synonyms of for what it's worth

Origin of for what it's worth

The phrase may have originally been used to qualify a statement of advice, opinion, or suggestion by referring to such a statement and describing it separately from making it.

Questions about for what it's worth

What does for what it's worth mean?
For what it's worth means considering what limited worth this advice, opinion, or suggestion might have for you; used to soften the presentation of unsolicited advice or information that may not be relevant.
What part of speech is for what it's worth?
For what it's worth is a prepositional phrase.

Words near for what it's worth in the dictionary

  1. for very shame's sake
  2. for Wales
  3. for want of
  4. for weal or woe
  5. for what
  6. for what it's worth
  7. for what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful
  8. for why
  9. for worlds
  10. for XYZ reasons
  11. for ya

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: for what it's worth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-for what it's worth.wav.

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