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Synonyms

meaningless

American  
[mee-ning-lis] / ˈmi nɪŋ lɪs /

adjective

  1. without meaning, mean, meaning, significance, purpose, or value; purposeless; insignificant.

    a meaningless reply; a meaningless existence.
meaningless British  
/ ˈmiːnɪŋlɪs /

adjective

  1. futile or empty of meaning

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • meaninglessly adverb
  • meaninglessness noun

Etymology

Origin of meaningless

First recorded in 1790–1800; meaning + -less

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.

Crazy days are usually meaningless bumps in the road for markets.

From The Wall Street Journal

"They made the press credentials that we fought so hard to get back meaningless."

From Barron's

AI horsepower is too expensive and precious to spin its wheels on meaningless or poorly devised tasks.

From The Wall Street Journal

But – crucially – those prices are meaningless if patients cannot get an NHS appointment in the first place.

From BBC

Then came the Americans, who often acted as if they would have been content to slog through meaningless scrimmages in half-empty spring-training stadiums.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.