useless

[ yoos-lis ]

/ ˈyus lɪs /

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See synonyms for: useless / uselessly / uselessness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile: It is useless to reason with him.

without useful qualities; of no practical good: a useless person; a useless gadget.

OTHER WORDS FOR useless

1 fruitless, profitless, valueless, worthless, inutile.

2 unserviceable, unusable.

See synonyms for useless on Thesaurus.com

OPPOSITES FOR useless

1 effective.

See antonyms for useless on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of useless

First recorded in 1585–95; use + -less

synonym study for useless

1. Useless, futile, ineffectual, vain refer to that which is unavailing. That is useless which is unavailing because of the circumstances of the case or some inherent defect: It is useless to cry over spilt milk. Futile suggests wasted effort and complete failure to attain a desired end: All attempts were futile. That which is ineffectual weakly applies energy in an ill-advised way and does not produce a desired effect: an ineffectual effort. That which is vain is fruitless or hopeless even after all possible effort: It is vain to keep on hoping.

OTHER WORDS FROM useless

use·less·ly, adverbuse·less·ness, noun

Words nearby useless

USECC, used, used to, useful, use immunity, useless, Usenet, use one's head, user, user-defined key, user experience

How to use useless in a sentence

A setup close to or including a bathroom or the kitchen would work well, but the latter is less essential considering you can store food in your chosen room and the appliances may be useless in a power outage anyway.
The safest ways to stay warm during a power outage|John Kennedy|February 18, 2021|Popular-Science
Traditional code-breaking methods appeared useless against the new technology.
Hackers thrive on the weak link in cybersecurity: People|Gershom Gorenberg|February 1, 2021|Washington Post
That could mean involving more companies like Amazon Web Services or Cloudflare, which can render websites and online applications useless by depriving them of the necessary infrastructure to operate.
Apple and Google are likely to slow down enforcement again after Capitol riot bans|Gerrit De Vynck, Reed Albergotti, Jay Greene|January 12, 2021|Washington Post
Governments also deliberately reduced internet bandwidths for more than 7,200 hours, bringing speeds down to 2G—SMS and voice calls continue to function but modern websites and apps are rendered useless.
India’s internet shutdowns cost its economy nearly $3 billion in 2020|Ananya Bhattacharya|January 5, 2021|Quartz

“The implementation has ended up essentially being useless,” said Abercrombie, who went on to serve as the state’s governor, in a recent interview.
The Government Promised to Return Ancestral Hawaiian Land, Then Never Finished the Job|by Rob Perez, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and Agnel Philip, ProPublica|December 19, 2020|ProPublica
Most people could agree on whether a given configuration of materials is a functioning vehicle or a useless set of parts.
The Birth of the Novel|Nick Romeo|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In another generation, it will be useless, leading visitors straight into a pillar.
Silicon Valley Mansions, Swallowed Alive|Geoff Manaugh|November 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Effectively, dozens of brand new jets worth billions of dollars are sitting on the ground useless.
Navy Grounds Top Guns|Dave Majumdar|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But policies and cheap raw materials are useless if businesses fail to take advantage of them.
It’s Always Sunny In England|The Daily Beast|September 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“My insurance, even though I finally got it, was useless,” she said.
Obamacare Now Pays for Gender Reassignment|Kaiser Health News|August 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Of course Edna would like to hear Mademoiselle Reisz play; but she feared it would be useless to entreat her.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
When a leaf is so young that it wraps itself around the main stalk it's useless to try to turn it over.
The Tale of Grandfather Mole|Arthur Scott Bailey
At an early date we find, further, a perfectly useless kind of imitation which is more akin to that of art.
Children's Ways|James Sully
It would be useless to put you to the expense of drawings, until you have made up your minds on what you intend to have done.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2)|Francis Trevithick
You will do well to send a note to your amiable friend Carr; it may save him a useless journey; for at my table he shall not sit.
Elster's Folly|Mrs. Henry Wood

British Dictionary definitions for useless

useless

/ (ˈjuːslɪs) /

adjective

having no practical use or advantage

informal ineffectual, weak, or stupidhe's useless at history

Derived forms of useless

uselessly, adverbuselessness, 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

useless

OTHER WORDS FOR useless

OPPOSITES FOR useless

Origin of useless

synonym study for useless

OTHER WORDS FROM useless

Words nearby useless

Words related to useless

How to use useless in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for useless

Derived forms of useless