value

noun, verb — 14 senses

value

noun

/ˈvæljuː/ · [ˈvæljʊu̯]

Etymology From Middle English valew, value, from Old French value, feminine past participle of valoir, from Latin valēre (“be strong, be worth”), from Proto-Italic *walēō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong”).

11 senses
  1. 1The quality that renders something desirable or valuable; worth.
  2. 2The degree of importance given to something.
  3. 3That which is valued or highly esteemed, such as one's…
  4. 4The amount (of money or goods or services) that is…
  5. 5The relative duration of a musical note.
  6. 6The relative darkness or lightness of a color in (a…
  7. 7Any definite numerical quantity or other mathematical…
  8. 8Precise meaning; import.
  9. 9The valuable ingredients to be obtained by treating a…
  10. 10Esteem; regard.
  11. 11Valour.
1

The quality that renders something desirable or valuable; worth.

  • There is tremendous value in a good education.
  • An abacus is of little value when you have an electronic calculator.
1 more example
  • United were value for their win and Rooney could have had a hat-trick before half-time, with Paul Scholes also striking the post in the second half.2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
2

The degree of importance given to something.

  • The value of my children's happiness is second only to that of my wife.
  • Okay, for the record, and this is probably obvious, those three departments do actually do things of value, assuming that you find Pell grants, mortgage insurance, low-income housing programs, the National Weather Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and the Census Bureau to be of some value. And if it comes as news to you that that’s what those departments do, well then, hi Gary, I’m excited you’re watching the show.2016 October 16, “Third Parties”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 26, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
3

Often That which is valued or highly esteemed, such as one's morals, morality, or belief system.

  • He does not share his parents' values.
  • family values
1 more example
  • WikiLeaks did not cause these uprisings but it certainly informed them. The dispatches revealed details of corruption and kleptocracy that many Tunisians suspected, […]. They also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies.2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
4

The amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else.

  • The value of the stolen painting is estimated to be around four million pounds.
  • An article may be possessed of the highest degree of utility, or power to minister to our wants and enjoyments, and may be universally made use of, without possessing exchangeable value.1825, John Ramsay McCulloch, Principles of Political Economy:
2 more examples
  • His design was not to pay him the value of his pictures, because they were above any price.1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
  • Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
5

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The relative duration of a musical note.

  • The value of a crotchet is twice that of a quaver.
6

Art, Arts The relative darkness or lightness of a color in (a specific area of) a painting etc.

  • When pigments of equal value are mixed together, the resulting color will be a darker value. This is the result of subtraction.2006, Edith Anderson Feisner, Colour: How to Use Colour in Art and Design:
  • Shadows and light move very quickly when you are painting on location. Use Cobalt Blue to quickly establish the painting's values.2010, Rose Edin, Dee Jepsen, Color Harmonies: Paint Watercolors Filled with Light:
7

Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics, Sciences Any definite numerical quantity or other mathematical object, determined by being measured, computed, or otherwise defined.

  • The exact value of pi cannot be represented in decimal notation.
8

Precise meaning; import.

  • the value of a word; the value of a legal instrument
  • Yet that learned and diligent annotator has , in a following note , shown his sense of the value of a passage of Livy , marking , in a few words , most strongly the desolation of Italy under the Roman republic1784-1810, William Mitford, The History of Greece:
9

In plural The valuable ingredients to be obtained by treating a mass or compound; specifically, the precious metals contained in rock, gravel, etc.

  • The vein carries good values.
  • the values on the hanging walls
10

Obsolete Esteem; regard.

  • The French have a high value for them ; and I confess they are often what they call delicate1700, [John] Dryden, “Preface”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
  • My relation to the person was so near, and my value for him so great.a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC:
11

Obsolete Valour.

  • Who ſoone prepard to field, his ſword forth drew, / And him with equall valew counteruayld: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 264:
Synonyms
valence, value, worth
Derived terms
155 termsabsolute value, accept at face value, acid value, actual cash value, add value, add value machine, aged R-value, and nothing of value was lost, article of extraordinary value, book value, call by value, call-by-value, call value, calorific value, capital value, cash value, characteristic value, customs value, C-value, C-value paradox, diminished value, dividend value trap, D-value, enterprise value, entertainment value, exchange value, expected value, extreme value theorem, extrinsic value, face-value, fact-value distinction, fair market value, fair value, first-class value, function value, f-value, good value, g value, half-value thickness, high-value, high-value target, initial-value problem, initial value problem, intermediate value theorem, iodine value, kauri-butanol value, key-value, Kirschner value, Koettstorfer value, Köttstorfer value, k-value, labor theory of value, labor value theory, labor-value theory, labour theory of value, labour value theory, labour-value theory, latent value, low-value, marquee value, marriage value, mean value theorem, net present value, nominal value, numismatic value, of value, p-adic absolute value, pass-by-value, pass by value, phenotypic value, place value, Polenske value, present value, production value, proper value, p-value, Q-value, rateable value, redemption value, Reichert-Meissl-Wollny value, Reichert value, replay value, return value, ruin value, r-value, saponification value, second-class value, sentimental value, sexual market value, Shapley value, shareholder value, shock value, sign-value notation, singular value decomposition, snob value, stand in one's value, stored-value card, store of value, street value, surplus value, surrender value, take at face value, tax value, theory of value, third-class value, time value, time value of money, time value premium, trivial absolute value, truth value, universal value, use value, U-value, valuable, value add, value-add, value added, value-added, value-added network, value-added reseller, value-added service, value added tax, value-added tax, value bet, value billing, value chain, value date, value domain, value-form, value for money, value-free, value in exchange, value in use, value investing, value judgement, value judgment, value-laden, valueless, valueness, value-neutral, value over replacement player, value premium, value proposition, value proposition canvas, value raise, value restriction, value statement, value system, value theory, value trap, value type, value voter, yield value, Zeleny sedimentation value, zeta value
Related terms
39 termsvaluable, worthless, esteem, cherish, appreciate, respect, revere, price, use, utility, instrumentality, benefit, profit, fertility, productivity, yield, quality, excellence, scarcity, demand, exchange, honor, treasure, gold, silver, bronze, platinum, diamond, jewel, gem, money, capital, asset, all the tea in China, character, important person, expert, genius, Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class V § 812a. Value
Hyponyms
added value, economic value, face value, intrinsic value, lvalue, market value, note value, par value, rvalue, time value, instrumental value, exchange value, use value

value

verb

Etymology From Middle English valew, value, from Old French value, feminine past participle of valoir, from Latin valēre (“be strong, be worth”), from Proto-Italic *walēō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to be strong”).

1

To determine or estimate the value of; to judge the worth of.

  • I will have the family jewels valued by a professional.
  • The property has been valued at six million pounds.
1 more example
  • Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.[…]But as a foundation for analysis it is highly subjective: it rests on difficult decisions about what counts as a territory, what counts as output and how to value it. Indeed, economists are still tweaking it.2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
2

To regard highly; think much of; place importance upon.

  • Gold was valued highly among the Romans.
  • I value his advice.
3

To hold dear; to cherish.

  • I value these old photographs.
Related terms
value system

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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