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.
UMA founder Hart Lambur said in an email that the potential conflicts weren’t large enough to matter: “These votes didn’t shift the overall vote outcome at all and were meaningless to the final resolution.”
From Barron's • May 12, 2026
“Moderator questions are so meaningless … and they make it easy for candidates to take potshots at each other,” said longtime political sage Darry Sragow.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
He said the picture was "meaningless" as it was taken in 2022.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
But women actually being treated as equals requires more of society than just meaningless platitudes.
From Salon • Apr. 13, 2026
The other possibility was that the hug had happened, but it was just a meaningless blip in their day, and they’d already forgotten about it.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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.
