good-for-nothing

"What can you do with this good-for-nothing pension? Were it not for my son helping me out I'd be unable to buy my medicine," she complained at the march in the capital, Caracas.

From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026

The 17th Mickey is a flesh photocopy of Mickey Barnes, a good-for-nothing dope desperate to flee Earth after his macaron business flops and its main investor threatens him with a chain saw.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025

Yet later this year up to 40 healthy Australian volunteers may begin receiving infusions of the supposedly good-for-nothing molecule.

From Science Magazine ● Jun. 8, 2023

Appropriately enough, their sound harks back to the staccato, stuttering beats of 1990s girls bands like TLC and Destiny's Child, complete with lyrics chastising any "trifling good-for-nothing type of brother".

From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2022

“Auntie Rose is out traveling today, so why don’t you go stoke a fire in the hearth. Looks like those good-for-nothing cousins let it go out once more.”

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland

But now Mr. Berlusconi and the good-for-nothings need each other.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2022

November 18, 2011 1:36 AM One of the most interesting discoveries with OWS is how so many people can be convinced to lump all the protesters into the category of good-for-nothings.

From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 21, 2011

Americans no longer regard the impoverished as lazy good-for-nothings, but it is equally naive to categorize the poor as victims of an affluent majority.

From Time Magazine Archive

“Of all the good-for-nothings I have encountered,” shouted Cook, “surely you are the worst, the most cauliflower-eared, the good-for-nothing-est. There’s only one place left for you. The dungeon.”

From "The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread" by Kate DiCamillo

“You two good-for-nothings are dismissed,” he said, brushing by them and stalking out of the classroom.

From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins