invaluable
adjective
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invaluable = valuable?
Many people find it confusing that the in- prefix at the beginning of invaluable apparently lacks the meaning "not" found in a number of other words, such as invalid, inarticulate, and insane. In fact, the prefix does indicate negation, but in a way that is not immediately obvious. The original (and current) meaning of invaluable is "valuable beyond estimation"; the word describes something so precious that one cannot assign a price to it. This, clearly, is the opposite of the meaning "having no value; valueless" that the word might seem to carry. Invaluable actually has been recorded in the sense "without value," but such use has been exceedingly rare and is practically nonexistent today.
Examples of invaluable in a Sentence
Oliver Sacks, New York Review of Books, 25 Sept. 2008
… the scrolls provide an invaluable snapshot of at least one important strain in early Judaism—though they are by no means a complete record of Jewish belief at that time.
—Jeremy Lott, Lingua Franca, February 2001
I stayed there only a month or so but it was an invaluable experience … : that month's residence provided the inspiration for a novel I wrote much later, Sophie's Choice.
—William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, (1953) 1982
Their help has been invaluable to us.
the list of likely donors proved to be invaluable to our fund-raising efforts
New Atlas, 10 July 2024
They were represented at every meeting of the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC), and their feedback was invaluable to the direction that the GPAC and city staff took regarding our historic Lehi neighborhood.
—Maritza Dominguez, The Arizona Republic, 9 July 2024
Armstead said learning from the seasoned vets in his rookie season of 2013 with New Orleans was invaluable.
—Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 8 July 2024
Many built within the last few decades, religious interment sites and spaces for remembering the deceased have become invaluable to expanding communities beyond the predominantly Protestant and Catholic population of Sacramento.
—Esther Sun, Sacramento Bee, 7 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for invaluable 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'invaluable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Invaluable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invaluable. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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