nugatory

American  

[noo-guh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee, nyoo-] / ˈnu gəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i, ˈnyu- /

adjective

1. of no real value; trifling; worthless.

   Synonyms:

   frivolous, insignificant, trivial

2. of no force or effect; ineffective; futile; vain.

   Synonyms:

   inoperative, useless

3. not valid.

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nugatory British  

/ ˈnjuːɡətərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. of little value; trifling

2. not valid

   a nugatory law

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Etymology

Origin of nugatory

1595–1605; < Latin nūgātōrius worthless, useless, trifling, equivalent to nūgā(rī ) to trifle + -tōrius -tory ¹

Explanation

Something nugatory has no real value; it’s worthless. All your excuses for why you didn’t turn the bath tap off when you left the apartment are nugatory; they don’t change the fact that the tub overflowed and leaked into the apartment below. An adjective meaning “trifling, of no value,” nugatory comes from the Latin nugatorius, “worthless, futile,” which in turn came from the verb nugari, "to trifle or act like a fool." Nugatory is a word you probably don’t hear too often, but you can use it to describe something with no force or importance as nugatory. "Whether this rug is red or green is nugatory to someone who is colorblind."

Example Sentences

Or by the supposed injustice of rendering the billions they’ve already invested nugatory.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 16, 2023

The committee filed suit for enforcement, lest Congress’s oversight function be rendered anemic, even nugatory.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2020

Yet all of these questions seem, increasingly, merely nostalgic, nugatory, in the face of the dissolution of the common solidarity of principles that had once made the liberation happen.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 6, 2019

Usually the efforts have been nugatory: In the 1988 general election, for instance, he received 47,004 votes, or 0.05% of the nationwide total.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 14, 2016

Joking apart, however, these discussions are usually rendered nugatory by each debater attaching a different meaning to the word.

From Psychical Miscellanea Being Papers on Psychical Research, Telepathy, Hypnotism, Christian Science, etc. by Hill, J. Arthur