What is "exercise in futility"

Usage examples of "exercise in futility".

I can't afford the loss of troops it would take to conquer Corcaigh by storm and sieges of Corcaigh are simply an exercise in futility, frustrating without a sizable fleet, and at this juncture of my larger plans, I simply cannot tie up both fleet and army on the one project.

It's an exercise in futility, but the solitude and picnic lunches are equally satisfying.

The entire operation was considered to be an exercise in futility.

It would have been an exercise in futility, just like his entire career, he now realized.

Much of my life people have told me I was wasting my time or engaging in an exercise in futility when I tackled a seemingly hopeless project.

Since he had no idea what its status would be to the Galactics and since he had no conception of the Indowy's rank, trying to bow appropriately would be an exercise in futility.

Trying to learn more than the surface of what went on among the Atha'an Miere was like trying to learn how the Guild of Illuminators made fireworks, an exercise in futility.

I moved into it with my mind, knowing this to be an exercise in futility.

After all, it didn't occur to anyone that organizin' the non-Citizens was anything but an exercise in futility.

And he had the sick feeling that she saw through the lie since, of course, attempting to dissemble with an empath was generally an exercise in futility.