useless

[yoos-lis]

adjective

1. of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile.

   It is useless to reason with him.

   Synonyms: inutile, worthless, valueless, profitless, fruitless
   Antonyms: effective

2. without useful qualities; of no practical good.

   a useless person; a useless gadget.

   Synonyms: unusable, unserviceable

useless

/ ˈjuːslɪs /

adjective

1. having no practical use or advantage

2. informal,  ineffectual, weak, or stupid

   he's useless at history

Other Word Forms

• uselessly adverb
• uselessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of useless¹

First recorded in 1585–95; use + -less

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

Yale University’s new research doesn’t quite say that Medicare and Medicaid are blowing billions of taxpayer dollars on expensive prescription drugs that are completely useless.

Read more on MarketWatch

A few hours before Russian forces entered the region, Utkin wiped the software from the batteries, turning them into “expensive bricks” that are now essentially useless.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"So as usual they feel embarrassed, they think they should do something and they react and they say 1 million shillings reward. Absolutely useless," the activist said.

Read more on BBC

In the crosshairs are narratives like "studying is useless" and "hard work is useless", as well as stories that promote "world-weariness".

Read more on BBC

Tower could be so heavily damaged in a major earthquake that it would be rendered useless to county officials.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• counterproductive 
• fruitless 
• futile 
• hopeless 
• idle 
• impractical 
• incompetent 
• ineffective 
• ineffectual 
• inoperative 
• meaningless 
• pointless 
• stupid 
• unproductive 
• unworkable 
• worthless