1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. futile

Find the word definition

What is "futile"

Crossword clues for futile

futile
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
futile
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a futile attempt (= certain to fail and not worth doing)
▪ I jumped up and down in a futile attempt to keep warm.
futile (=having no chance of succeeding, and therefore not worth doing)
▪ Doctors knew that any effort to save his life would be futile.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
attempt
▪ Policy strategies which attack the social and economic determinants of ill-health are dismissed as futile attempts at social engineering.
▪ A number of women were quite bitter about their futile attempts to get clergy to help.
▪ These are the remains of unfortunate wretches driven to kill themselves in a futile attempt to escape the torments of the Castle.
▪ They showed no qualms in spending £3 billion in a futile attempt to prop up the Pound.
effort
▪ Minutes later a team of paramedics began a futile effort to revive the boy.
▪ Sundays he slept even later than usual, in a futile effort to avoid the day.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ All efforts to save the child proved futile.
▪ Demonstrators condemned the summit as a futile and fruitless exercise.
▪ Kevin made one last futile attempt to persuade Sandra to go with him, then left.
▪ The goal is not to punish the rebels, but to convince them that it is futile to resist.
▪ Until attitudes at work are changed, attempts to improve performance are likely to prove futile.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ But a sense of apathy arises from the feeling that life is pointless and futile.
▪ It was all so sad, so depressing, so futile.
▪ The attempt to change his mind proved futile.
▪ The point to recognize is, of course, that it is futile to waste time classifying studies into neat little boxes.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Futile

Futile \Fu"tile\ (?; 277), a. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]

  1. Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [Obs.]

    Talkers and futile persons.
    --Bacon.

  2. Of no importance; answering no useful end; useless; vain; worthless. ``Futile theories.''
    --I. Taylor.

    His reasoning . . . was singularly futile.
    --Macaulay.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
futile

"incapable of producing result," 1550s, from Middle French futile or directly from Latin futilis, futtilis "vain, worthless, futile," a figurative use, literally "pouring out easily, easily emptied" (the Latin adjective used as a noun meant "a water vessel broad above and pointed below"), hence "leaky, unreliable," from fundere "to pour, melt," from PIE root *gheu- "to pour" (see found (v.2)). Related: Futilely.

Wiktionary
futile

a. Incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.

WordNet
futile

  1. adj. producing no result or effect; "a futile effort"; "the therapy was ineffectual"; "an otiose undertaking"; "an unavailing attempt" [syn: ineffectual, otiose, unavailing]

  2. unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain attempt" [syn: bootless, fruitless, sleeveless, vain]

Wikipedia
Futile (EP)

Futile is a promotional EP by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in July 2003 through Lava Records. It was first released during Porcupine Tree's North American tour with Opeth, of July and August 2003.

Additionally, the album was later released digitally as well, with an alternate track listing. This version is a digital EP of tracks recorded during the In Absentia era.

Usage examples of "futile".

Would Alder and Dogal and all the soldiers he had diced with get themselves killed in a futile defense?

It would be futile to attempt to describe them to Earth men, since substance is the only thing which they possess in common with any creature of the past or present with which you are familiar--even their venom is of an unearthly virulence that, by comparison, would make the cobra de capello seem quite as harmless as an angleworm.

Those bullets brought back futile answers, despite the angry cackle of Li Hoang, and the babbled shouts of Chun Laro.

Being angry with Dunster, in any event, seemed as futile as raging at the rain that fell each day when it was meant to be summer, or yelling curses at the traffic in the Commercial Road all the way to work, or railing at the fact of death.

With mouths that bloated and shriveled, ballooned to turgid proportions only to be swiftly metabolized, they mocked his futile efforts: moaning, whistling, enouncing in measured, whispered tones that echoed with the icy indifference in which they dwelled.

Groping as though blinded, the burning form of the man weaved a moment before a window, clawing in a futile attempt to open it, the flames, which seemed to leap from every portion of his body, enwrapping him.

Even then there was no scurrying of feet as we had expected, and while the boy remained to direct the boat I slid from cabin to cabin in futile search for some member of the crew.

Often the desire to pursue the alternative is born of disillusionment and discontent with the futile attempt to fill the vacuum in our lives with loves and joys too small, too transient, to meet our need.

Then in the slow creeping course of eternity the utmost cycle of the cosmos churned itself into another futile completion, and all things became again as they were unreckoned kalpas before.

Bertha Kircher, finding her struggles futile and realizing that she must conserve her strength for some chance opportunity of escape, desisted from her efforts to break from the grasp of Prince Metak as the fellow fled with her through the dimly lighted corridors of the palace.

On the beach, nearly out of bullets and mortars, the brigade launched a futile counterattack against Cuban army soldiers pushing relentlessly in from the west.

With eyes filled with tears of helplessness, mixed with the futile rage on the miseries of her existence, she called out to the Lordy for deliverance.

In short, I am not Merivel, but a mopish phlegmatic and futile person I do not like at all.

Zanthodon, Xask rose purposefully, kicked Murg to his feet, and led the way back across the vast meadowlands in the direction in which they had made their futile flight.

Heris wanted to tell the oglers how futile their efforts were, but knew better.