worth one's while
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
worth someone's time or effort
Literally: valuable enough to justify the time spent
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
It's worth my while to drive an hour for a good job interview
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “worth one's while” mean?
worth someone's time or effort Literally: valuable enough to justify the time spent
Is “worth one's while” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.