Word.ws English Dictionary

never-do-well

Syllables: nev·er-do-well/ˈnɛv.ə.duːˌwɛl/US/ˈnɛv.əɹ.duˌwɛl/

never-do-well is the alternative form of ne'er-do-well.

Meaning of ne'er-do-well

Noun

ne'er-do-well (plural ne'er-do-wells)

  1. A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing.
    • So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.1933, The Commonweal, volume 19, page 241
  2. A person who is up to no good; a rogue.

See all 3 meanings of ne'er-do-well

Forms of never-do-well

Noun
pluralnever-do-wells
Adjective
comparativemore never-do-well
superlativemost never-do-well

Origin of never-do-well

From never (adverb) + do (verb) + well (adverb). First attested in 1664.

Questions about never-do-well

What is never-do-well the alternative form of?
Never-do-well is the alternative form of ne'er-do-well.
How do you pronounce never-do-well?
Never-do-well is pronounced /ˈnɛv.ə.duːˌwɛl/ (UK).

Words near never-do-well in the dictionary

  1. never waste a crisis
  2. never you mind
  3. never've
  4. never-be
  5. never-been
  6. never-do-well
  7. never-do-wells
  8. never-dying
  9. never-ending
  10. Never-Ending September
  11. never-endingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: never-do-well (page history and authors); ne'er-do-well (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-never-do-well.wav.

Cite this entry: “never-do-well.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/never-do-well. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.