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.
In ordinary life, a difference that small would be meaningless.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Lesser wasn’t suggesting that the changes experienced with dementia are meaningless.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Not only are the vast majority of young men within this range, the difference between being at the lower end or the higher end of this limit is largely meaningless.
From Slate ● Sep. 13, 2026
At a certain point, these men have amassed so much money that it’s meaningless.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
Suddenly he wept, a slow bellowing sound, meaningless and sustained.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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.
