Basic Details
Word: Well-deserved
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Fully earned, because of hard work, skill or good behaviour.
Synonyms: earned, merited, justified, rightful
Antonyms: undeserved, unearned, unjustified
How to Spell Well-deserved
Syllables: well - de - served
Tricky part: Well keeps its double l, and deserved has s, not z, even though it sounds like a z. Students write well-dezerved or wel-deserved.
Watch out for: well-dezerved, wel-deserved, well-desearved
Memory tip: Serve sits inside deserve: de + serve + d. If you serve well, your reward is well-deserved.
Usage Examples
Example 1: After the board exams, Riya took a well-deserved holiday in Coorg.
Example 2: The bus driver received a well-deserved award for twenty years without an accident.
Example 3: The team's well-deserved win was celebrated with ice cream for everyone.
Fun Fact
The hyphen depends on position: we write a well-deserved prize, with a hyphen, but the prize was well deserved, without one.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) kind-harted
b) good-lookking
c) open-mindid
d) well-deserved
Show answer
d) well-deserved. Kind-hearted takes heart, good-looking has one k, and open-minded ends in -ed.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word well-deserved as used in the sentence:
Her well-deserved promotion came after years of quiet, careful work in the accounts office of the firm.
a) merited
b) earned
c) justified
d) undeserved
Show answer
d) undeserved. Years of careful work earned the promotion; an undeserved one would come without that effort.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The players enjoyed a well-dezerved rest after winning the tournament without losing a single match.
a) tournament
b) match
c) single
d) well-dezerved
Show answer
d) well-dezerved. Deserve is de plus serve, so the buzzing sound is written with an s.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. When is praise well-deserved?
a) when nobody has done anything
b) when it is given by mistake
c) when someone has truly earned it
d) when it is said very loudly
Show answer
c) when someone has truly earned it
2. Which word could replace well-deserved in 'a well-deserved break'?
a) short
b) sudden
c) boring
d) earned
Show answer
d) earned
