Valuable means worth a lot, either in money or in importance. A diamond ring is valuable because it costs thousands of dollars. Your grandmother's handwritten recipe book might be valuable to your family even though it wouldn't sell for much, because it holds memories and connections you can't replace.

Something's value isn't always about price. A valuable lesson teaches you something important that helps you later. A valuable friendship enriches your life in ways money can't measure. When a scientist makes a valuable discovery, it might advance human knowledge significantly.

People also use this word to talk about time. If someone says “thank you for your valuable time,” they're acknowledging that your time matters and you could have spent it doing something else.

The opposite is worthless or valueless, meaning something has no worth. But be careful: just because something isn't valuable to one person doesn't mean it lacks value entirely. That old comic book gathering dust in your closet might be incredibly valuable to a collector, while your most treasured possession might seem ordinary to someone else.