futile
84
6.0
- adjective
- /ˈfjuːtaɪl/
:
inútil
- It's futile to worry about things you cannot control.
- futile effort
- futile attempt
- prove futile
And they are beginning to wonder, is this a futile approach or do I keep going?
- And they are beginning to wonder, is this a futile approach or do I keep going?
- Resistance is futile at the very last moment.
- As John McCain recently reminded us, no just cause is futile, even if it's lost.
- As Camus is going to tell us, it's a task of futile and hopeless labor.
- I'm willing to try, but I feel like it's all futile.
- They will not honor them and enforcing the boundaries is a futile pursuit.
- And too often we pit emotions against logic in a futile battle.
- I mean, you try to cheer the person up and it's just futile.
- And then I just realized it was futile.
Examples
-
My uncle knows it's futile to keep me from going over the wall every so often.
-
On Sundays, he slept even later than usual in a futile effort to avoid the day.
Fiction book (1991) -
And they are beginning to wonder, is this a futile approach or do I keep going?
-
So looking back at your own experience, you should say this is futile to worry about it.
-
Give up this futile scheme.
-
If ever any medical treatment is futile, it certainly must be when the patient is dead.
Academic text (1994) -
I think it is futile to try and rescue thinking with thinking.
-
So the point is... it is futile to regret.
-
We wish to make clear: patients are never futile; treatments may be futile.
Academic text (1994) -
Do not let yourself be influenced by futile thoughts, and the success will be yours.
Synonyms
550
1.0
Not able to do the job it is made for
298
3.0
Has no value or use
226
5.1
Having no meaning, value, or purpose
157
3.5
Not doing anything useful
133
2.5
An action that will not help
108
3.7
Without success despite trying to do something
90
3.4
Not working well enough to give the wanted result
88
5.6
Bad or worthless and often causing trouble
79
3.9
Not producing the result you want
76
2.9
Not getting the result someone wants
24
4.8
Not giving the results you want
21
3.8
Not giving useful or wanted results
18
6.8
Not able to produce the result wanted
4
5.3
Not done for any clear reason or useful result
2
4.5
Not giving useful results or helping to finish work, like a meeting
1
4.2
Not producing any useful result
1
9.9
Not producing any useful result or success
1
8.2
Not producing the result you want
1
9.9
Something that has no real purpose or value
Not useful and having little value
Useless and not needed
Not helpful and not wanted in any situation
Completely without help for any task
Antonyms
How Futile
Surface Forms
Etymology
Futile comes from the Latin futilis, which meant 'leaky' or 'easy to pour out'. Imagine a cup with holes that cannot hold water—trying to use it is 'pointless', so futile now means something that will not work or is 'useless'.