in vain
IdiomsExample Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
DeConinck said city leadership flew to Sacramento and tried, in vain, to get any traction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Lyubov waited in vain for her mother's body to be brought out, while other families had no idea if their relatives were alive or dead.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Regardless of reactions from his supporters, Abdurahmanovic said attempts to revise his legacy were in vain.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Hundreds of young Russians gathered outside a Moscow courthouse where Yabloko’s bespectacled chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, who has a mop of brown hair and looks like a small-town librarian, spent hours appealing the ruling in vain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
All the same, Farid listened in vain that night, the longest night of his life.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
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.
