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meaningless

[mee-ning-lis]
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adjective
  1. without meaning, significance, purpose, or value; purposeless; insignificant: a meaningless reply; a meaningless existence.
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Origin of meaningless

First recorded in 1790–1800; meaning + -less
Related formsmean·ing·less·ly, adverbmean·ing·less·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

emptinessineffectivenessuselessnessidlenesshollownessvanitysenselessnessfrivolousnessineffectualitymeaninglessnessvainness

Examples from the Web for meaninglessness

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Leilah heard what to her was the meaninglessness of technical terms.

    The Monster

    Edgar Saltus

  • Bojo attempted to burst in on the stream of meaninglessness and repeated phrases.

    Making Money

    Owen Johnson

  • It was distress of soul which made her wince now and then; it was wrung by the emptiness and meaninglessness of her existence.

    Ditte: Girl Alive!

    Martin Andersen Nexo

  • It was the meaninglessness that seemed to leap out upon me wherever I turned my eyes.

    The Blue Germ

    Martin Swayne

  • This trick of repetition reaches the climax of meaninglessness in "The Ways of the Hour."

    James Fenimore Cooper

    Thomas R. Lounsbury

British Dictionary definitions for meaninglessness

meaningless

adjective
  1. futile or empty of meaning
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Derived Formsmeaninglessly, adverbmeaninglessness, noun
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

Word Origin and History for meaninglessness

meaningless

adj.

1730, from meaning + -less. Related: Meaninglessly; meaninglessness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper