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Another word for futile

Adjective

  1. Having no useful result

    2. Idioms:
    See also:

    used

    thrive

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Synonym Study

  • That is useless which has proved to be ineffectual in practice or is theoretically considered to be of no avail
  • That is abortive which fails to succeed or miscarries at an early stage of its development
  • Fruitless stresses the idea of great and prolonged effort that is profitless or fails to yield results
  • Vain also implies failure but does not have as strong a connotation of intrinsic inefficacy as futile
  • Futile is applied to that which fails completely of the desired end or is incapable of producing any result
© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • She sighed at the futile thoughts.

  • She sighed at the futile thoughts.

  • His negotiations with Russia proved futile, and after a year's absence he returned to New York.

  • Several futile attempts have been made to draw conclusions as to the intelligence of various birds.

  • French influence made futile his attempt to come to an understanding with the emperor Louis the Bavarian.

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Words that mention futile in the Dictionary

Words near futile in the Thesaurus