ne'er-do-well
Collocations
4ADJ.
economic, most, trollish
VERB + NE'ER-DO-WELL
keep, labor, paid
NE'ER-DO-WELL + NOUN
brother, husband, starvatio
PREP.
from
Definitions
noun
A person without a means of support; an idle, worthless person; a loafer; a person who is ineffectual, unsuccessful, or completely lacking in merit; a good-for-nothing.
So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.
Clara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.
A person who is up to no good; a rogue.
adj
Showing the characteristics of a ne'er-do-well: indolent, worthless, or roguish.
The brother who sought me out and would have redeemed me from the power of darkness, but he couldn't; and has robbed himself of joy and comfort in life to keep his ne'er-do-well brother from starvation; who has paid his debts over and taken him out of jail again and again....
Before the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belief that factory work was a road to self-betterment—often precluded their considering an away-from-home cure.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — an idle worthless person
- goldbrick
- goof-off
- good-for-nothing
- no-account
- good-for-naught
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
6So they have trooped forth to organize village down-and-outs and ne'er-do-wells into would-be combat units.
WiktionaryClara's father, a trollish ne'er-do-well who spent most of his time in brothels and saloons, would disappear for days and weeks at a stretch, leaving Clara and her mother to fend for themselves.
WiktionaryThe brother who sought me out and would have redeemed me from the power of darkness, but he couldn't; and has robbed himself of joy and comfort in life to keep his ne'er-do-well brother from starvatio
WiktionaryBefore the 1850s, when women figured most prominently in textile employment, the reasons that caused women to seek paid labor—a ne'er-do-well husband, economic distress of the natal family, or a belie
WiktionaryThink of the scorn with which Nicholas Nicklebys Madame Mantalini treats her ne'er-do-well' husband from whom she insists "on being separated and left to myself...."
WiktionaryHe's just a ne'er-do-well.
Tatoeba · #9762637