no-good

[ adjective noh-good; noun noh-good ]

adjective

1. lacking worth or merit; useless; bad:

   This no-good faucet never did work properly. Her no-good brother sold me the car.

noun

1. a person or thing that is worthless or undependable.

Word History and Origins

Origin of no-good¹

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Idioms and Phrases

Unsatisfactory, inadequate; also, no use. For example, This work is no good; it'll have to be done over , or It's no good complaining since there's nothing we can do , or I tried to appeal to his sense of generosity, but it did no good . [Mid-1800s] Also see come to an end (to no good) , def. 2; do any (no) good .