It’s all right to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps.
Source: tatoeba (5793627)
Bootless
Synonyms for "bootless" (67 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (14)
Strong matches (20)
Related words (33)
Related word relations
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Synonyms
1 entriesderived
2 entriesderived from
2 entriesrelated to
4 entriessimilar
1 entriesTranslations
1 translations across 1 languages.
Bulgarian
1 entries- безполезен adj (unavailing)
Sample sentences
6 total sentences available.
Since he and I are substantially of the same opinion as to the reality of the phenomenon, it would be bootless to discuss the comparative merits of the considerations that have led us to this conclusion.
Source: tatoeba (12042333)
I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
Source: wiktionary
When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, / I all alone beweep my outcast state / And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 6 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.