ineffectual
18
6.8
- adjective
- /ˌɪnɪˈfɛkʧuəl/
:
ineficaz
- The new advertising campaign was completely ineffectual; sales did not increase at all.
- costly and ineffectual
- feel ineffectual
- politically ineffectual
And the left is kind of become ineffectual.
- And the left is kind of become ineffectual.
- And and you can add into the euro the European Central Bank, which is ineffectual, weak, doesn't know what it's doing.
- Our fate stands before us, and we provoke God him less out of pride than out of awareness of our ineffectual condition.
- And narcissists do manipulate, so you don't see how insecure they are or how really ineffectual they are.
- So he says these are ineffectual words which lift up the heart but leave reason unsatisfied.
- Gregory prefers effectual with some violent touches to ineffectual because being a ruler is a hard job in a barbarian world.
- The ultimate truth has really been been ineffectual.
Examples
-
For the most part, African government agencies are ineffectual in coercing citizens to comply with state objectives.
Academic text (1992) -
And you sir, are just an ineffectual little puppy.
-
When you go around me, you make me look ineffectual.
-
The legal system became discriminatory and ineffectual, so that citizens lost respect for government and the law.
Academic text (2012) -
As Riis recognized, attempts to better others can easily prove ineffectual and even harmful.
Academic text (1991) -
Instead, enforcement has focused on the immigrants themselves, relying on the largely ineffectual strategy of deportation.
Academic text (2008) -
His mother was pretty, frail, and ineffectual, totally unable to stand up to her hard-driving husband.
Fiction book (1999) -
More often, he found himself in the role of stern but ineffectual parent trying to control warring siblings.
Academic text (1995) -
But this feels quaint and ineffectual, a Boy Scout reciting his oath.
Fiction book (2001) -
A few Anglican priests were perceived as immoral, many more as ineffectual or spiritually moribund.
Academic text (1996)
Synonyms
90
3.4
Not working well enough to give the wanted result
84
6.0
Not likely to work or help
21
3.8
Not giving useful or wanted results
1
8.2
Not producing the result you want
Not effective at making the result you want
Useless and not needed
Antonyms
How Effective
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word ineffectual starts with in- meaning 'not' and uses effect meaning 'result' or 'to bring about', the same root you see in effective. So ineffectual means 'not producing the result', which is why it describes something that does not work or has no real power.