Word.ws English Dictionary

not worth the powder

not worth the powder phrase: not worth the time or effort.

Phrase

not worth the powder

  1. (colloquial) Not worth the time or effort.

Forms of not worth the powder

alternative formnot worth the powder and shot

Origin of not worth the powder

An allusion to gunpowder being wasted on small birds etc.

Questions about not worth the powder

What does not worth the powder mean?
Not worth the powder means not worth the time or effort.
What part of speech is not worth the powder?
Not worth the powder is a phrase.

Words near not worth the powder in the dictionary

  1. not worth beans
  2. not worth hell room
  3. not worth salt
  4. not worth the candle
  5. not worth the paper it is printed on
  6. not worth the powder
  7. not worth the powder and shot
  8. not worth writing home about
  9. not wrapped too tight
  10. not yet
  11. not yets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not worth the powder (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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Cite this entry: “not worth the powder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/not_worth_the_powder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.