ne'er-do-well, n. 1. good-for-nothing, Chiefly Brit, wastrel, Inf. no-account, black sheep, Fr. vaurien, worthless person; unfortunate, Sl. loser, Sl. schlemiel, Sl. schlimazel, Sl. sad sack; idler, faineant, loafer, drone, do-nothing, Inf. bum; sluggard, slugabed, layabout, lazybones, malingerer, shirker, Inf. goldbrick, Sl. goof-off; scamp, Inf. scalawag, rascal, rogue, knave, scapegrace, blackguard, reprobate.
-adj. 2. worthless, of no worth, good-for-nothing, useless, no-good, valueless; do-nothing, lazy, slothful, sluggard, idle, faineant, indolent, nefarious, adj. 1. wicked, evil, sinful, iniquitous, Archaic, facinorous, Obs. scelerous; villainous, flagitious, heinous, infamous, notorious, Rare, nefast; black-hearted, sinister, arrant, ignoble; bad, base, vile, foul, low, mean, odious, obnoxious; abominable, execrable, horrible, horrid, atrocious, grievous; ghastly, grim, dire, black, dreadful; hideous, grisly, gruesome, unspeakable; damnable, damnatory, accursed, cursed; maleficent, malefic, malevolent, ill-intentioned, evil-minded; demonic, demoniac, diabolic, devilish, fiendish, satanic, hellish, infernal; unholy, unrighteous, unblest, unsanctified, unhallowed, unconsecrated.
2. perfidious, treacherous, insidious, traitorous; unscrupulous, unprincipled, crooked, dishonorable; blackguardly, scoundrelly, thievish, ruffianly; criminal, wrong, reprehensible, felonious, lawless; unregen-erate, unrepentant, impenitent, obdurate, incorrigible; unpardonable, unforgivable; degenerate, corrupt, Rare, turpid, depraved; immoral, dissolute, profligate, reprobate, abandoned, dissipated; opprobrious, disgraceful, shameful; scandalous, shocking, outrageous; contemptible, scurvy, abhorrent, loathsome, hateful, detestable, despicable, negate, v. 1. nullify, render null and void, declare null and void, void, disannul, annul, cancel; repeal, revoke, retract, rescind, abrogate; quash, invalidate, vitiate, vacate, disenact, disestablish; set aside, call off, supersede, discharge; cease, Law. nol-pros, stop, discontinue, break off; countermand, counterorder, override, overrule, veto; refuse, reject, turn down, decline, disallow, repudiate; forbid, prohibit, proscribe, disapprove, negative; abolish, eliminate, destroy, squelch, suppress, silence.
2. deny, dispute, gainsay, controvert, naysay, disbelieve; contradict, traverse, disaffirm, disprove, confute, refute, discredit; disavow, forswear, disclaim; retract, unsay, recant, take back, back-pedal; protest, oppose, contravene; object, demur, refuse assent, disagree. negation, n. 1. denial, contradiction, gainsay, dis-affirmation, denegation; disavowal, unsaying, repudiation, disclaimer, disclamation, Rhet. apophasis; retraction, recantation, (usu. under oath) abjuration.
2. refusal, rejection, turndown, declination; rebuff, repulse; forbiddance, veto, disallowance, prohibition, proscription, disapproval, Inf. no-go; thumbs down, deaf ear.
3. refutation, answer, disproof, confutation; protest, objection, contravention; disagreement, dissent, demur, demurral.
4. renunciation, renouncement, disowning; disinheriting, disinheritance, disheriting.
5. nonentity, nullity, nothing, phantom, illusion, dream; void, blank, vacuity, vacuum.