useless
Americanadjective
-
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
-
without useful qualities; of no practical good.
a useless person; a useless gadget.
- Synonyms:
- unusable, unserviceable
adjective
-
having no practical use or advantage
-
informal ineffectual, weak, or stupid
he's useless at history
Related Words
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 Word Forms
- uselessly adverb
- uselessness noun
Etymology
Origin of useless
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.
This is another way of saying that the change in CPI’s annual inflation rate is close to useless as a short-term gold timing indicator.
From MarketWatch
These scenes, like every trend in discussion here, are useless for the filmmaker and for the viewer.
From Salon
“In the last twenty-four hours, my phone has become next to useless as I’ve received so many incoming messages and calls. It’s crazy,” he told MarketWatch in an interview.
From MarketWatch
If they do manage to catch lightning in a bottle, it’s a sign that whatever useless film sequel they’re working on for the year ahead will be a critical and commercial success.
From Salon
When you play the back four, sometimes you can have a back five or back six, so for me this is useless to talk about that.
From BBC
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.
