meaningless
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of meaningless
Explanation
If something's meaningless, it has no real value, purpose, or significance. If someone repeatedly hurts your feelings and casually says they're sorry, you might feel like the apology is meaningless. Words in a book will be meaningless to you if they're written in a language you don't understand, and the small talk you engage in when you run into an acquaintance at the supermarket is often meaningless too. You can probably think of rules that don't have any good reason behind them, and these are also meaningless. When something is important to you, it has meaning — and when it's not, it's meaningless.
Vocabulary lists containing meaningless
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Flynn's defence lawyer Patrick Mulligan, meanwhile, told the court there was no concrete evidence, saying: "Connecting a couple of meaningless dots doesn't solve the case."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
In ordinary life, a difference that small would be meaningless.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
He also has complained to confidants that the interim peace deal was ultimately meaningless, officials said, and that he always knew it wasn’t going to work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
They are getting better at sifting data into meaningful signals and meaningless noise.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
I start bobbing around like a puppet, holding up outfits and saying meaningless things like “Don’t you love it?”
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
