Futilitarian

//fjuːˌtɪlɪˈtɛəɹi.ən// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person believing that all human activity is futile.

    "It is in the region of the Island that most of the battles take place between organized labour and the apostles of free labour. Let there be any industrial trouble of any kind, and down upon the district swoop dozens of fussy futilitarians, to argue, exhort, bully, and agitate generally."

  2. 2
    A person devoted to profitless pursuits.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Having the opinion that all human activity is futile.

    "In America the silence was more oppressive than the ignorance; but perhaps elsewhere the world might still hide some haunt of futilitarian silence where content reigned—although long search had not revealed it—and so the pilgrimage began anew!"

Example

More examples

"In America the silence was more oppressive than the ignorance; but perhaps elsewhere the world might still hide some haunt of futilitarian silence where content reigned—although long search had not revealed it—and so the pilgrimage began anew!"

Etymology

Blend of futility + utilitarian c. 1830.

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