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

“AI is used these days for so much useless stuff. But this one, that’s the one it should be used for. It’s really something that helps us improve the human condition.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

These mobile pieces of DNA were once considered useless.

Read more on Science Daily

"Argentines showed that they do not want to return to the failed model, the model of inflation… the model of a useless state," he declared.

Read more on BBC

They were left out of pocket, owning useless fake "credits" and still locked into expensive timeshare contracts they often could no longer use.

Read more on BBC

"What are the odds of us being so useless," said Sir Stephen, while Winkleman urged the celebrities to do better.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

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