What's the difference between idle and worthless?

Idle


Definition:

  • (superl.) Of no account; useless; vain; trifling; unprofitable; thoughtless; silly; barren.
  • (superl.) Not called into active service; not turned to appropriate use; unemployed; as, idle hours.
  • (superl.) Not employed; unoccupied with business; inactive; doing nothing; as, idle workmen.
  • (superl.) Given rest and ease; averse to labor or employment; lazy; slothful; as, an idle fellow.
  • (superl.) Light-headed; foolish.
  • (v. i.) To lose or spend time in inaction, or without being employed in business.
  • (v. t.) To spend in idleness; to waste; to consume; -- often followed by away; as, to idle away an hour a day.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Even with hepatic lipase, phospholipid hydrolysis could not deplete VLDL and IDL of sufficient phospholipid molecules to account for the loss of surface phospholipid that accompanies triacylglycerol hydrolysis and decreasing core volume as LDL is formed (or for conversion of HDL2 to HDL3).
  • (2) Eager to show I was a good student, the next time we had sex, I noticed that one of my hands was, indeed, lying idle – and started to pat him on the back, absently, as if trying to wind a baby.
  • (3) And imagine he then found that, far from acting swiftly to capture, arrest and charge him, the Metropolitan police force (who knew something about his activities) initially stood idly by as his list of victims grew and grew.
  • (4) The balance is fragile and the threat of a spiral of decline is not an idle one.
  • (5) The KBS hypothesis of autism is not simply an idle exercise.
  • (6) "There are idle MPs with no outside interests and there are fantastic public servants that do have them."
  • (7) On Saturday an idle digg ing machine signalled the hasty clearing of the building site to make way for the refugees, who have fled from countries including Syria and Eritrea .
  • (8) In circumstances in which energy conversion rate and supplies of reducing power exceed the capacity of the biosynthetic machinery, energy-dependent H2 production presumably represents a regulatory device that facilitates "energy-idling."
  • (9) Relative to EM, Meritec had the highest specificity (97%), followed by Virogen (95%), IDL (91%), Pathfinder (85%), Behring (81%), Bartels (72%), and Rotazyme (71%).
  • (10) Thus, introducing fish oil into an atherogenic diet reduced the number of VLDL, IDL and LDL particles in plasma by as much as 50%, reduced the cholesteryl ester content of the circulating lipoprotein, and reduced the ability of the VLDL to stimulate cholesterol esterification in macrophages.
  • (11) 12.44am BST Ah, here's @NotCoachTito, sitting somewhere idly wondering what it's like in Fenway tonight...actually, he may have a decent idea of the atmosphere.
  • (12) It was on the set of The Frost Report that production staff began to refer to Barker and Corbett as "the two Ronnies", while the writing team included Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, and Eric Idle – every Monty Python member bar Terry Gilliam – as well as Marty Feldman and lead writer Antony Jay, who went on to create Yes, Minister.
  • (13) Moreover, a larger fraction of plasma VLDL is transformed into IDL and LDL, the latter representing the main plasma cholesterol carrier.
  • (14) Hagere Selam remains a modest place of mudwalled shops with corrugated roofs, cows, donkeys and sheep wandering unpaved streets and children idling away an afternoon at table football – a generation with no memory of the famine that killed hundreds of thousands and woke up the world.
  • (15) Epidemiological studies in humans suggest that IDL or remnant lipoproteins are predictors of the severity or progression of atherosclerosis.
  • (16) It would be idle to pretend that Cameron doesn't have talents as a leader.
  • (17) A chlorine sanitizer was circulated (5 min, 40 degrees C) and the unit containing sanitizing solution left idle overnight.
  • (18) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Either way, I love Jane for idly sticking two fingers up at the idea of a spa break in Rhodes or other emblems of “sophistication” being the only thing to aspire to.
  • (19) Bidders have spent an estimated £1m each on their bids but, according to one industry source, the process has stalled and franchise owners are being forced to retain expensive but idle bidding teams.
  • (20) The results indicate that a simple depletion of his-tRNA is not sufficient to elicit the response and suggest that idle ribosomes are required for regulation.

Worthless


Definition:

  • (a.) Destitute of worth; having no value, virtue, excellence, dignity, or the like; undeserving; valueless; useless; vile; mean; as, a worthless garment; a worthless ship; a worthless man or woman; a worthless magistrate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) KR: She was truly in a conundrum because without the app, she felt too worthless to try and fix it by installing an update.
  • (2) The lack of Ab2 anti-Ab1 anti-HLA makes worthless the utilization of such preparations for neutralization of Ab1 present in highly sensitized dialysis patients or suppression of their production in transplanted patients in contrast with the previous reports suggesting this possibility.
  • (3) Former Labour science minister Lord Sainsbury said any assurances would be "frankly meaningless" given Pfizer's history of asset-stripping.Allan Black, of the GMB union which represents workers at AstraZenea's Macclesfield factory, said of Pfizer's latest pledges: "Similar undertakings were given by US multinationals before which have proved to be worthless."
  • (4) The biggest loser could be the state-owned oil company Rosneft, which bought Yukos assets in auctions when the latter's stock was almost worthless.
  • (5) Nobody is sure what dangerous chemical imbalance this would create but the Fiver is convinced we'd all be dust come October or November, the earth scorched, with only three survivors roaming o'er the barren landscape: Govan's answer to King Lear, ranting into a hole in the ground; a mute, wild-eyed pundit, staring without blinking into a hole in the ground; and a tall, irritable figure standing in front of the pair of them, screaming in the style popularised by Klaus Kinski, demanding they take a look at his goddamn trouser arrangement, which he has balanced here on the platform of his hand for easy perusal, or to hell with them, for they are no better than pigs, worthless, spineless pigs.
  • (6) Where we revere and anthropomorphise such brutal predators as sharks, tigers and bears, we view these tiny ectoparasites as worthless, an evolutionary accident with no redeeming or adorable characteristics.
  • (7) In addition to the climate risk, the Bank of England and others argue that fossil fuel assets may pose a “huge risk” to pension funds and other investors as they could be rendered worthless by action to slash carbon emissions.
  • (8) We have to acknowledge that it's extremely hard to build a regular city from scratch.” Furthermore, some experts say that certified green buildings and pedestrian-friendly roads are a worthless patch for China’s environmental woes, not a solution.
  • (9) His comments came as voucher experts said consumers have probably lost at least £100m in now worthless HMV vouchers.
  • (10) Chris Leslie, Labour's shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said: "Nobody doubts that Stephen Hester has done some important things at RBS, but what this award shows is David Cameron's promises about reining in excessive bonuses at state-owned banks or using shareholder power have proved to be utterly worthless.
  • (11) The drop in ventricular septal temperature was so small that topical hypothermia, by itself, may be worthless.
  • (12) The responses to the upper half field stimulation showed greatest variation making the VEP recording worthless in detecting altitudinal visual field defects.
  • (13) The future of Game Group is hanging by a thread after it filed for administration and admitted the business was worthless, jeopardising 6,000 jobs in the UK.
  • (14) But it is all merely worthless and meaningless froth while the city council permits a gateway to hell to do brisk business just a few streets away.
  • (15) If we look at who has what in Syria, you will see that Isis is only controlling the desert, and it is worthless.
  • (16) "He had no job, he didn't go on holiday … he felt worthless … Thank you, Theresa May , from the bottom of my heart – I always knew you had the strength and courage to do the right thing."
  • (17) But companies spent $670bn (£436bn) in 2013 alone searching for more fossil fuels, investments that could be worthless if action on global warming slashes allowed emissions.
  • (18) It's all there: sexual and social confusion, vulnerability and violence, alienation and loneliness, the oscillation between feeling abject and worthless and wanting to take over the world, the fantasies of power and revenge.
  • (19) In May, the then prime minister, Naoto Kan, ordered the killing of livestock by lethal injection after radiation made them commercially worthless.
  • (20) I have been charged very little but I'm concerned that many people holidaying in France will book their car through Firefly, only to discover that their booking is worthless because they cannot drive across the border.