Another word for futile | Synonyms for futile

Another word for futile

futile Synonyms

futile

modif.

To no purpose
vain, unavailing, useless, in vain, fruitless, hopeless, impractical, worthless, impracticable, unprofitable, to no effect, not successful, abortive, profitless, valueless, unneeded, resultless, unsatisfactory, unsatisfying, ineffective, ineffectual, bootless, unproductive, to no avail, idle, empty, nugatory, hollow, barren, exhausted, unreal, delusive, unsubstantial, visionary.
Antonyms effective, fruitful, effectual.
Frivolous
trifling, petty, unimportant, small; see trivial.

futile is applied to that which fails completely of the desired end or is incapable of producing any result; vain also implies failure but does not have as strong a connotation of intrinsic inefficacy as futile; fruitless stresses the idea of great and prolonged effort that is profitless or fails to yield results; that is abortive which fails to succeed or miscarries at an early stage of its development; that is useless which has proved to be ineffectual in practice or is theoretically considered to be of no avail

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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.

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"futile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/futile>.

APA Style

futile. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/futile

Another word for futile

adjective

Having no useful result:

barren, bootless, fruitless, unavailing, unprofitable, unsuccessful, useless, vain. Idiom: in vain. See thrive, used

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

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"futile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 18 December 2018. <https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/futile>.

APA Style

futile. (n.d.). Retrieved December 18th, 2018, from https://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/futile

SentencesSentence examples

Sentence Examples

If you are researching an ancestor prior to 1857 in the U.K. or 1900 in America, it is futile to try to find an official government record of birth, unless the information is contained within some other document.
At best it's because they are attracted to lesbians - even as futile as that attraction may be, Chasing Amy filled many a guy's head with the idea that he can have a romantic relationship with a lesbian.
She sighed at the futile thoughts.
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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