pointless
Americanadjective
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without a point.
a pointless pen.
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blunt, as an instrument.
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without force, meaning, or relevance.
a pointless remark.
- Synonyms:
- ineffectual, futile, unproductive, meaningless
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without a point scored, as in a game.
a pointless inning.
adjective
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without a point
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without meaning, relevance, or force
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sport without a point scored
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pointless
First recorded in 1300–50, pointless is from Middle English point les. See point, -less
Explanation
If something's pointless, it has no use or makes no sense. Telling yourself that it's pointless to be nervous every time you fly on a plane probably won't solve your fear of flying. Taking standardized tests in school often feels pointless, and an even more pointless exercise might be listening to your best friends argue about which 1970s rock band was the greatest. When something has a useful purpose or a good reason to exist, it has a point — and when it doesn't, it's pointless. You can also use this adjective to mean "dull" or "blunt."
Vocabulary lists containing pointless
Never Mind: Synonyms for "Meaningless"
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Unimportant
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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.
The proposal appeared both trivial and pointless: After all, the machine doesn’t “do” anything except change meaningless signs into other meaningless signs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
“A half-hour of hard-driving rock led straight into mid-tempo sludge like ‘Fingerprint File,’ a pointless but not purposeless exercise whose supposed function was to prove that Jagger could play guitar competently.”
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
"I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody that ever got in and out of Broomfield Hospital in 30 minutes, so it always seems like a bit of a pointless kind of advertisement," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
The 39-year-old described the 20 minutes of free parking "pointless".
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
It was pointless to say more, pointless to say, I like their presents just as much as yours, because they did it themselves.
From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
