Word of the Day – Invaluable

The word of the day for 11th August 2020 is invaluable. I guess that you could say that this is an invaluable word!

What is invaluable and how is it different to valuable? This is a commonly asked question.

The meaning of the word invaluable is a descriptor for something that is very useful to the point of being essential (or not easily substituted) or at least something that seems necessary to achieve the desired outcome, all other factors considered.

The Cambridge Dictionary definition of the word invaluable is ‘extremely useful‘.

Now we know the definition of invaluable, we can consider whether to use ‘invaluable’, ‘valuable’ or perhaps a completely different word such as ‘indispensable’.

The word invaluable is an adjective.

An adjective may be described as something that modifies or adds context to a noun. See our Adjective Section for further details. For example in the phrase ‘WriteCorrectly.com is an invaluable resource for writers creating content for the web’, ‘invaluable’ is the adjective, and ‘resource’ is the noun.

What is the Difference between Invaluable and Valuable?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines valuable as ‘worth a lot of money‘.

We can see that valuable usually relates to a monitory amount. The more valuable something is, the more money it is worth, or at least the higher perceived value of the exchange is.

Invaluable on the other hand is something that we cannot do without. This does not necessarily relate to money. For example, when writing a long document, we could say that time is an invaluable resource. The time itself does not relate to a direct monetary figure (well, unless you are paid by the hour that is).

If you are not paid, but you need time, time is invaluable. If you are paid $20 per hour for your time, the value of an hour of your time is $20. Equally, if you need $20 to pay your bills, you could say that $20 is invaluable to you.

Other examples may include:

• The processing power of the computer is invaluable in allowing the game to run smoothly.
  • Here we can see that the power of the computer is necessary. A slower computer may not perform the desired action of running the game without staggering frames. There is no direct monetary link here.
• The value of a computer with the latest chip-set could be $2000.
  • In this example, we can see that the cost of the computer is likely to be $2000.
• My running shoes are invaluable to me. Without them, I could not run a marathon in less than 4 hours.
  • Here we can see that the runner perceives their running shoes, specifically, as being a necessary resource or commodity to running the distance within a set timeframe.

We hope this article has been useful. Check back to Write Correctly on a frequent basis to see our latest Word of the Day posts.

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