Skip to content

The word for today is…

valuable (adjective, noun) -

adjective
1a: having monetary value
b: worth a good price
2a: having desirable or esteemed characteristics or qualities
b: of great use or service

noun
: a usually personal possession (such as jewelry) of relatively great monetary value — usually used in plural

Source : Merriam-Webster

Etymology : Many people find it confusing that the in- prefix at the beginning of invaluable apparently lacks the meaning "not" found in a number of other words, such as invalid, inarticulate, and insane. In fact, the prefix does indicate negation, but in a way that is not immediately obvious. The original (and current) meaning of invaluable is "valuable beyond estimation"; the word describes something so precious that one cannot assign a price to it. This, clearly, is the opposite of the meaning "having no value; valueless" that the word might seem to carry. Invaluable actually has been recorded in the sense "without value," but such use has been exceedingly rare and is practically nonexistent today.

If you enjoyed this Good Oil word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest

Comedy Corner

Comedy Corner

Welcome to Politically Incorrect Comedy corner: the one place on The Good Oil where you are allowed to read and share naughty and offensive jokes that make us all laugh even though we are not supposed to. If you are offended by these kinds of jokes then please do not

Members Public