unavailing

American  

[uhn-uh-vay-ling] / ˌʌn əˈveɪ lɪŋ /

adjective

1. ineffectual; futile.

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unavailing British  

/ ˌʌnəˈveɪlɪŋ /

adjective

1. useless or futile

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Other Word Forms

• unavailingly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of unavailing

First recorded in 1660–70; un- ¹ + avail + -ing ²

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Explanation

Something that's unavailing doesn't achieve the desired results. After an unavailing search for a pair of matching socks, you were forced to wear a blue and green striped sock on one foot and a pink polka-dotted sock on the other. When your efforts are ineffective, they're unavailing. A teacher's unavailing attempt to keep your class quiet means that the noise continues, and an underdog basketball team's unavailing struggle to make up the ten-point lag at halftime means they ultimately lose the game. This adjective comes from the now-obsolete availing, "advantageous," combined with the prefix un-, "not."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

unavailing

The speech will thrill those for whom the glories of patriotic battle can never dim, and will chill those who do not think themselves less patriotic because they find war an ugly and unavailing abomination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2023

Repeated attempts to reach the church and its pastor, Jared Lett, were unavailing.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 23, 2021

Equally unavailing is the majority’s reliance on the Proclamation’s waiver program.

From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2018

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey described the tense scene as top White House aides arrived at Ashcroft’s room in an unavailing effort to secure his signature.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2017

Yet through 1947, Lawrence’s attempts to capture an artificially produced meson on photographic film were unavailing.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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