unvalue

English

Etymology

From un- (“lack of”) +‎ value.

Noun

unvalue (countable and uncountable, plural unvalues)

1. (uncountable) Lack of value; valuelessness; worthlessness
   • 2003, Shaka N'Zinga, Robin D. G. Kelley, A Disjointed Search for the Will to Live:

     There was no happiness nowhere to be found in this life of unvalue, this life that had been devalued a million times in one life time, from the womb to the culture death: abortion, the death penalty, projects, thug life, middle class, bill gates [...]

   • 2013, Peter Sander, The 25 Habits of Highly Successful Investors:

     Not too surprisingly, signs of unvalue are warning flags—not red flags, but items that might give you some pause about a business.

2. (countable) A negative or undesirable value (all senses)
   • 1997, Chandrakanta Sharma, Urja Utpaadan Ka Arthshastra:

     According to him, God cannot be called the Highest Value, because there in no 'unvalue' with which he can be contrasted. But, here Alexander confuses the absolute predicate with relative ones. If a thing has value, it is in contrast to some unvalue, since all predicts affirmed about finite things are relative. But, applied to God, the case is otherwise. All that is said about God is absolutely predicated.

   • 2012, Jaap J. Boonstra, Cultural Change and Leadership in Organizations:

     Setting borders is working with “unvalues.” It is a method of value steering that directors or leaders use to indicate what they do not want. They block specific behaviour and thus create space for employees to look for other work practices.

   • 2012, Andrew Herscher, The Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit:

     One condition is the city's almost inevitable destruction of burned houses, even when architecturally reconfigured—its inability to recognize unreal estate's unvalues.

Synonyms

• unworth