Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Futile
Fu′tile
(?; 277)
, Adj.
[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
, Verb.
T.
1.
Talkative; loquacious; tattling.
[Obs.]
Talkers and
futile
persons. Bacon.
2.
Of no importance; having no useful purpose; useless; vain; worthless; pointless.
“Futile theories.” I. Taylor.
His reasoning . . . was singularly
futile
. Macaulay.
Webster 1828 Edition
Futile
FU'TILE
,Adj.
1.
Talkative; loquacious; tattling.2.
Trifling; of no weight or importance; answering no valuable purpose; worthless.3.
Of no effect.Definition 2024
futile
futile
English
Adjective
futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)
- Incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
- No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or […] . And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
- 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:
- There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
- 2011 December 15, Marc Higginson, “Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport:
- Goals from Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend, Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane sealed the win, but Rubin Kazan's 1-1 draw against PAOK Salonika rendered Spurs' efforts futile.
-
Synonyms
- ineffectual
- unavailing
- vain
- idle
- fruitless
- See also Wikisaurus:futile
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
incapable of producing results
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Latin
Adjective
fūtile
- nominative neuter singular of fūtilis
- accusative neuter singular of fūtilis
- vocative neuter singular of fūtilis
References
- futile in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- futile in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “futile”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.