Related Searches
Nearby Words

neer-do-well

 [nair-doo-wel]   Origin

ne'er-do-well

   [nair-doo-wel]
noun
1.
an idle, worthless person; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; good-for-nothing.
adjective
2.
worthless; ineffectual; good-for-nothing.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Neer-do-well is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Origin:
1730–40

Synonyms
1. idler, loafer, wastrel.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To neer-do-well
Collins
World English Dictionary
ne'er-do-well
 
—n
1.  an improvident, irresponsible, or lazy person
 
—adj
2.  useless; worthless: your ne'er-do-well schemes

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

ne'er-do-well
"one who is good for nothing," 1737, Scot. and northern Eng. dialect, from contraction of phrase never do well. The adj. is first recorded 1773.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Partners:WordBloglinesCitysearchThe Daily BeastAsk AnswersAsk KidsLife123SendoriThesaurus
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT
How many words do you know? FIND OUT