fruitless
Americanadjective
-
useless; unproductive; without results or success.
a fruitless search for the missing treasure.
- Synonyms:
- vain, unavailing, futile
- Antonyms:
- profitable, useful
-
bearing no fruit; barren.
- Synonyms:
- sterile
- Antonyms:
- fertile
adjective
-
yielding nothing or nothing of value; unproductive; ineffectual
-
without fruit
Other Word Forms
- fruitlessly adverb
- fruitlessness noun
Etymology
Origin of fruitless
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.
Officials had given daily media updates at which they have voiced increasing frustration with the so far fruitless manhunt.
From Barron's
But some singles, burned out by fruitless searches for love, are handing control of their dating profiles to the people who keep asking why they aren’t having any luck.
This week saw more fruitless talks about ending the war in Ukraine, the head of the OBR resign over a publishing mistake and the King host a glittering state banquet for the German president.
From BBC
She said she thinks it was "cruel" and "quite a fruitless exercise".
From BBC
After two fruitless visits to the station, the couple went to the Prince of Wales Hospital on Friday only to learn that no public hospital had admitted the elderly woman.
From Barron's
Definitions 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.
