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FUTILE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Unproductive of success
Example:
a vain attempt
Synonyms:
bootless; fruitless; futile; sleeveless; vain
Classified under:
Similar:
unproductive (not producing or capable of producing)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Producing no result or effect
Example:
an unavailing attempt
Synonyms:
futile; ineffectual; meaningless; otiose; unavailing
Classified under:
Similar:
useless (having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully)
Derivation:
futility (uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result)
Context examples:
After making one or two sallies to her relief, which were rendered futile by the umbrella's hopping on again, like an immense bird, before I could reach it, I came in, went to bed, and slept till morning.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I was amused, a couple of evenings back, by seeing Wolf Larsen reading the Bible, a copy of which, after the futile search for one at the beginning of the voyage, had been found in the dead mate’s sea-chest.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
He made a futile rush at White Fang, clipping the empty air with an outraged snap.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
But at last, after a futile year of flight, he accepted the inevitable and elected to remain at the cottage where first he had killed the rabbit and slept by the spring.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
What did you have in you? —some childish notions, a few half-baked sentiments, a lot of undigested beauty, a great black mass of ignorance, a heart filled to bursting with love, and an ambition as big as your love and as futile as your ignorance.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
It was just after the sun's futile effort to appear, that Bill slipped the rifle from under the sled-lashings and said: You keep right on, Henry, I'm goin' to see what I can see.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
