Futile

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Futile \Fu"tile\ (?; 277), a. [L. futilis that easily pours out,
     that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of
     fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See {Fuse}, v. t.]
     1. Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  


              Talkers and futile persons.           --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Of no importance; having no useful purpose; useless; vain;
        worthless; pointless. "Futile theories." --I. Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              His reasoning . . . was singularly futile.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  futile
       adj 1: producing no result or effect; "a futile effort"; "the
              therapy was ineffectual"; "an otiose undertaking"; "an
              unavailing attempt" [syn: {ineffectual}, {otiose}, {unavailing}]
       2: unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years
          after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain
          attempt" [syn: {bootless}, {fruitless}, {sleeveless}, {vain}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  147 Moby Thesaurus words for "futile":
     abortive, absurd, airy, apish, asinine, bad, barren, batty,
     befooled, beguiled, besotted, bootless, brainless, buffoonish,
     catchpenny, cockeyed, counterproductive, crazy, credulous, daffy,
     daft, dazed, dizzy, doomed, doting, dumb, effete, empty, etiolated,
     failed, failing, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flaky, flimsy, fond,
     fool, foolheaded, foolish, foredoomed, fribble, fribbling,
     frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fuddled, gaga, goofy, gulled, hollow,
     idiotic, idle, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-suited, ill-timed,
     imbecile, impolitic, impotent, improper, in vain, inadequate,
     inadvisable, inane, inappropriate, inapt, incongruous, ineffective,
     ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, inept, inexpedient,
     infatuated, infelicitous, inoperative, inopportune, insane,
     insufficient, invalid, kooky, lame, light, loony, mad,
     mal a propos, malapropos, manque, maudlin, miscarried, miscarrying,
     moronic, nugacious, nugatory, nutty, of no effect, of no force,
     otiose, out of place, profitless, sappy, screwy, senseless,
     sentimental, shallow, silly, slender, slight, sterile, stickit,
     stillborn, stupid, successless, superficial, thoughtless, trifling,
     trite, trivial, unavailable, unavailing, unbefitting, undesirable,
     unfit, unfitting, unfortunate, unhappy, unmeet, unproductive,
     unprofitable, unsatisfactory, unseasonable, unseemly, unsuccessful,
     unsuitable, untimely, unwise, useless, vacuous, vain, vapid, wacky,
     wet, windy, witless, worthless, wrong