no-count
Adjective: 1. Without merit, worthless, good-for-nothing: Describes a person or thing considered to have no value, usefulness, or positive qualities.
The word "no-count" is an informal, often derogatory adjective used primarily in American English. It is typically applied to people to describe them as lazy, unreliable, or worthless. It can also be applied to objects to deem them useless or of very poor quality. It functions attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb).
- Attributive use (before a noun):
- He was fired for being a no-count employee who never finished his work.
- Don't listen to that no-count liar.
- Predicative use (after a linking verb):
- That old tractor is completely no-count now.
- I warned you he was no-count and couldn't be trusted.
- The term often carries a strong tone of contempt or dismissal and is more common in colloquial or regional speech.
- It can be hyphenated ("no-count") or written as two words ("no count"), though the hyphenated form is more frequent when used as an adjective directly before a noun.
- Good-for-nothing (adjective/noun): A direct synonym with identical meaning and usage.
- He's just a good-for-nothing loafer.
- No-account (adjective): A variant form with the same meaning.
- She left town with some no-account drifter.
- Worthless (adjective): A more standard, less colloquial synonym.
- Sorry (adjective, informal): Can be used in a similar way to express contemptible poor quality (e.g., ).
- Good-for-nothing
- Worthless
- Useless
- No-account
- Lazy
- Shiftless
While "no-count" itself is not typically part of a larger idiom, it is synonymous with and used in the same contexts as the idiom: - Good-for-nothing: Used identically to describe a worthless person or thing. - That good-for-nothing son of mine still hasn't found a job.
- without merit
- a sorry horse
- a sorry excuse
- a lazy no-count, good-for-nothing goldbrick
- the car was a no-good piece of junk