Futile

//ˈfju.taɪl// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Incapable of producing results, useless; doomed not to be successful; not worth attempting.

    "But Bathsheba, though she could feel, was not much given to futile dreaming, and her musings under this head were short and entirely confined to the times when Troy’s neglect was more than ordinarily evident."

  2. 2
    Insignificant; frivolous.

    "Of its history little is recorded, and that little futile."

Adjective
  1. 1
    unproductive of success wordnet
  2. 2
    producing no result or effect wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fruitlessunavailingabortiveabsurdairyapish

Example

More examples

"It isn't futile to go to university."

Etymology

From Middle French futile, from Latin fūtilis.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.