Meanings
- USinformalnot comparableCosting 25 cents.
That was back in the days of the two-bit shave and haircut.
Synonyms: tuppenny-ha'penny
- USidiomaticnot comparableslangInsignificant or worthless.
Forget that two-bit shyster. Get yourself a real lawyer.
4 more examples
All your two-bit friends / They're shootin' you up with pills
1973, Lou Reed, “Oh, Jim”, in BerlinWhat Pimp was asking me to do was crazy. Off the fuckin' chain. Insane. He was scheming to stick up T.C. and Miss Lady's pool hall so we could pay off G, but a playa like me was getting ready to go to college and put all that two-bit robbing and stealing shit behind me.
2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 27I met a one look girl in a two-bit bar.
2011, Toby Keith, “Beers Ago”, in Clancy's TavernSerious times demand honesty and self-awareness from people in positions of authority and, at the end of the day, political parties giving succour to fringe views about life-and-death matters is a Faustian pact. This isn’t speculation, or a serve of two-bit punditry to fuel the opinion cycle. This is the lesson of Donald Trump.
2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, The GuardianSynonyms: tuppenny-ha'penny, ten-cent, base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile
- not comparablequantum computingActing on, and producing, two qubits.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveCosting 25 cents.
adjectiveInsignificant or worthless.
Origin
Adjective form of two bits.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian дребен, несъществен
- дребен (dreben)insignificant or worthless
- несъществен (nesăštestven)insignificant or worthless
Portuguese reles, barato
- relesinsignificant or worthless
- baratoinsignificant or worthless
- de meia tigelainsignificant or worthless
- de araqueinsignificant or worthless
Romanian de doi bani
- de doi baniinsignificant or worthless
Spanish de tres al cuarto, de poca monta
- de tres al cuartoinsignificant or worthless
- de poca montainsignificant or worthless
- pacotilleroinsignificant or worthless
- de segundainsignificant or worthless
Thai ห้าบาทสิบบาท
- ห้าบาทสิบบาท (hâa-bàat-sìp-bàat)insignificant or worthless
Cite this entry
two-bit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two-bit
“two-bit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two-bit. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “two-bit,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/two-bit.
Source: two-bit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.