go for nothing

verb

To have no value, or carry no weight with someone.

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Meanings

verbgo for nothing (third-person singular simple present goes for nothing, present participle going for nothing, simple past went for nothing, past participle gone for nothing)

present singular third person goes for nothing · participle present going for nothing · past went for nothing · participle past gone for nothing

  1. To have no value, or carry no weight with someone.

    And I tell you they are promises that go for nothing.

    1926, Alessandro Manzoni, The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi), page 333
    1 more example

    Is not your friend's business your own business? What does friendship mean if it is not so? And when I tell you that it is my business, mine of right, does that go for nothing with you?

    1867, Anthony Trollope, The Last Chronicle of Barset
Cite this entry
APA

go for nothing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20for%20nothing

MLA

“go for nothing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20for%20nothing. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “go for nothing,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/go%20for%20nothing.

Source: go for nothing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.