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Why is there a difference between Worth less and Worthless? I feel like they should mean the same thing, but they don't ironically

Angel Garcia
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3 Answers3

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You are confusing the word less with the suffix -less.

The suffix means "without":

  • A childless couple is one without children.
  • A colorless, odorless, tasteless liquid has no color, odor, or taste.
  • A worthless object has no value or worth.

Less is usually used as an adjective or adverb and is the comparative of little (little, less, least):

  • Six is less than three.
  • Rayon costs less than silk.
  • A house in the suburbs is usually worth less than one in the city.
KarlG
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  • I would correct your definition of 'less' meaning 'little' .. it is a comparative word associated with relative quantity not a small quantity necessarily. Our galaxy might have less than another galaxy but both have billions of stars – Tom22 Feb 14 '18 at 21:05
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    I did not say less means little, but is the comparative of little. Little, less, least should be uncontroversial. Compared to Jupiter, the Earth is a little planet. – KarlG Feb 14 '18 at 21:16
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    @Tom22 I have little to say. He has less to say. She has the least to say of all of us. – tchrist Feb 14 '18 at 21:24
  • @tchrist yes, but less doesn't tie to little directly. Little is actually making a statement about there being "less than expected" while 'less' is only relative. "more" relates to little just as much as "less" relates to little. I have little to say, he has more to say, and Abe had a ton to say but while he overwhelmed me he still had less to say than that blowhard Dave. Abe had far more than 'little' to say. "less" in that case referred to the second highest amount of volume. – Tom22 Feb 14 '18 at 23:54
  • @tchrist or the most simple "less than Mary but more than Bob" ... less makes no statement whatsoever assuming that any of the trio had small quantities or large quantities compared to normal expectations. – Tom22 Feb 14 '18 at 23:58
  • @Tom22 It most certainly does so. The very first sense given by the OED for less reads: “A. adj. (and n.) Used as the comparative of little adj., pron., n., and adv.” In an identical fashion the very first sense given by the OED for least reads: “Used as the superlative of little adj., pron., n., and adv.” It’s clear that the comparative degree of little is less and the superlative degree is least. How much clearer a “tie” would you ask for than this? English has worked this way since we only used 3 digits for years. – tchrist Feb 14 '18 at 23:59
  • @tchrist I'm not disputing that it ~can~ relate to little however that is far from it's only meaning and not IMO it's primary meaning https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/less A smaller amount of; not as much. as determiner ‘the less time spent there, the better’ as pronoun ‘storage is less of a problem than it used to be’ - ‘they returned in less than an hour’ 1.1 Fewer in number. Certainly "fewer" isn't little (as I used less to refer to relative billions) .. or Warren Buffet is worth less than Bill Gates(Buffet is number 2 out of 340 millions americans though) – Tom22 Feb 15 '18 at 00:08
  • @Tom22 You challenged Karl's characterization of less being the comparative of little. Karl was completely correct in his morphology — little, less, least — and there is nothing to dispute here. – tchrist Feb 15 '18 at 01:14
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    That the comparative can be used in contexts where the things compared do not have the quality described by the positive lies in the nature of comparison itself. Houston has a smaller population than Chicago, but neither have small populations. Smaller still remains the comparative of the positive small. – KarlG Feb 15 '18 at 10:05
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worth less = less valuable

worthless = pointless, senseless or not valuable

FrankMK
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  • I understand, but I'm more curious as to why there is a difference. I know what the difference is. But I just feel like it is a little funny that they sound so similar but are different. I was just wondering if there was any reason for that. – Angel Garcia Feb 14 '18 at 20:10
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    If I were to get snarky about it, I would say you have a 'senseless' question. ;) I'm having fun there, but the form of putting 'less' at the end of words means 'without' .... 'baseless' , 'endless' etc. Using two words uses the stand alone meaning of less .. as the opposite of 'more' ... no less than that. – Tom22 Feb 14 '18 at 20:54
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Worth less means diminished in value but worthless means of no value at all.

David Duggan
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