invaluable

English

Etymology

From in- +‎ valuable (compare priceless).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvælju(ə)bl̩/, /ɪnˈvæljəbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧val‧u‧ab‧le

Adjective

invaluable (comparative more invaluable, superlative most invaluable)

2. Having great or incalculable value.

   Synonyms: priceless, inestimable, valuable

   Hypernyms: valuable, precious, crucial

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:

     You are a very strange creature by way of a friend!—always wanting me to play and sing before anybody and everybody! If my vanity had taken a musical turn, you would have been invaluable; but as it is, I would really rather not sit down before those who must be in the habit of hearing the very best performers.

   • 1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, page 181:

     Colonel Cathcart bewailed the miserable fate that had given him for an invaluable assistant someone as common as Colonel Korn. It was degrading to have to depend so thoroughly on a person who had been educated at a state university.

4. (obsolete) Not valuable; valueless; worthless.

   Synonyms: unvaluable, nonvaluable

   • 1640, Treaty of Ripon:

     The money I have received is so invaluable a sum that I have forborne as yet to pay it in, and am heartily sorry that I cannot better advance His Majesty's service.

   • 1866, Thomas Wright, The Intellectual Observer:

     It would be an interesting, and far from an invaluable labour, to trace the history of the murrains, or cattle diseases of former days, and there causes and effects.

Derived terms

• invaluably
• invaluableness

Related terms

• evaluation
• revaluation
• valuation

Translations

of great value

• Armenian: անգին (hy) (angin)
• Bulgarian: безценен (bg) (bezcenen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無法估價的 / 无法估价的 (wúfǎ gūjià de)

• Czech: nedocenitelný
• Finnish: korvaamaton (fi)
• French: inestimable (fr)
• Greek: ανεκτίμητος (el) (anektímitos), πολύτιμος (el) (polýtimos)
• Hindi: अनमोल (hi) (anmol)
• Italian: prezioso (it), senza prezzo, impareggiabile (it), enorme (it), immenso (it)
• Japanese: かけがえのない (kakegae no nai)
• Kazakh: бағасыз (bağasyz)
• Malayalam: വിലമതിക്കാനാവാത്ത (vilamatikkānāvātta), അമൂല്യ (ml) (amūlya)
• Norwegian: uvurderlig
• Occitan: inestimable, invalorable
• Polish: nieoceniony, bezcenny (pl), drogocenny (pl)
• Portuguese: inestimável (pt)
• Russian: бесце́нный (ru) (bescénnyj), неоценимый (ru) (neocenimyj)
• Spanish: invalorable, inestimable, invaluable, valioso (es)
• Ukrainian: безці́нний (uk) (bezcínnyj), неоціне́нний (neocinénnyj)

very useful

• Armenian: անգնահատելի (hy) (angnahateli)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無價的 / 无价的 (wújià de)

• Czech: nedocenitelný
• Finnish: korvaamaton (fi)
• Italian: eccezionale (it)
• Norwegian: uvurderlig
• Polish: nieoceniony, bezcenny (pl), drogocenny (pl)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

of inestimable worth

• Armenian: անգնահատելի (hy) (angnahateli)
• Bulgarian: неоценим (bg) (neocenim)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無價的 / 无价的 (wújià de)

• Finnish: korvaamaton (fi), korvaamattoman arvokas
• Italian: inestimabile (it), impagabile (it), incalcolabile (it)
• Malayalam: വിലമതിക്കാനാവാത്ത (vilamatikkānāvātta), അമൂല്യ (ml) (amūlya), അമൂല്യമായ (amūlyamāya)
• Polish: bezcenny (pl)
• Portuguese: inavaliável (pt)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• incalculable
• inestimable
• unpriceable

Spanish

Etymology

in- +‎ valer +‎ -able

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imbaˈlwable/ [ĩm.baˈlwa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: in‧va‧lua‧ble

Adjective

invaluable m or f (masculine and feminine plural invaluables)

1. invaluable, priceless

   Synonym: invalorable

Related terms

• valioso

Further reading

• “invaluable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025