worth one's while

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

worth one's while (comparative more worth one's while, superlative most worth one's while)

1. (idiomatic) Beneficial and important enough on which to spend time, effort, or money.

   Doing volunteer work to help others is truly worth one's while.

   • 1992, Robert Gibbons, A Primer in Game Theory, Prentice-Hall, page 110:

     Even if (2.3.5) holds, so that the worker's strategy is a best response to the firm's strategy, it must also be worth the firm's while to pay ${\displaystyle w^{*}}$.

• worthwhile