Word.ws English Dictionary

worth while

worth while adjective: dated spelling of worthwhile.

Adjective

worth while (comparative more worth while, superlative most worth while)

  1. Dated spelling of worthwhile.
    • About 6 ft. from the ground is fastened "the joug," an iron collar in the wall, used to confine prisoners before it was thought worth while to build prisons or cages for them.1873, John Murray (publishers.), Handbook for travellers in Scotland (page 261)
    • Some day it may seem worth while to take up the story of the younger ones again and see what sort of men and women they turned out to be; […]1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “Conclusion”, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page [275]

Examples of worth while in a sentence

  • Strictly applicable only to actions: "Is it worth while to telegraph?" ...1918, William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style:
  • Adrian thought it worth while trying out his new slang.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section III, page 26:

Forms of worth while

comparativemore worth while
superlativemost worth while

Questions about worth while

What does worth while mean?
Worth while means dated spelling of worthwhile.
How do you use worth while in a sentence?
Strictly applicable only to actions: "Is it worth while to telegraph?" ...
What part of speech is worth while?
Worth while is an adjective.

Words near worth while in the dictionary

  1. worth one's weight in gold
  2. worth one's weight in salt
  3. worth one's while
  4. Worth syndrome
  5. worth the whistle
  6. worth while
  7. Wortham
  8. Worthams
  9. worthed
  10. worthen
  11. Worthen with Shelve

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: worth while (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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