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.
But other than that the game was meaningless since the Americans had already won the group and qualified for the next round while Turkey was going home no matter the result.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026
Am I emphasizing it was meaningless because the USA lost the game?
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
Everyone, he writes, should instead be more family-focused and less devoted to meaningless work.
From Slate • Jun. 18, 2026
His threat came after Iran warned the shaky ceasefire in their three-month war was "practically meaningless" following the latest strikes by the United States, which saw Tehran respond with attacks around the region.
From Barron's • Jun. 11, 2026
Us two meaningless kids with some meaningless plan, and how if you got right down to it absolutely nothing we did or planned to do even mattered.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
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.
