Futile

Definition: Futile

Futile

Adjective

1. Producing no result or effect; "a futile effort"; "the therapy was ineffectual"; "an otiose undertaking"; "an unavailing attempt".

2. Unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain attempt".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "futile" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Etymology: Futile \Fu"tile\, adjective. [Latin expression futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: compare to the French expression futile. See Fuse, transitive verb]. (references)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Futile

Inutility

Adjective: useless, inutile, inefficacious, futile, unavailing, bootless; inoperative; inadequate; (insufficient); inservient, unsubservient; inept, inefficient; (impotent); of no avail; (use); ineffectual; (failure); incompetent; (unskillful); " stale, flat and unprofitable"; superfluous; (redundant); dispensable; thrown away; (wasted); abortive; (immature).

Crosswords: Futile

French (fiddling, frivolous, frothy, futile, nugatory, piddling, piffling, pointless, shallow, stingy, trifling, trivial), Italian (futile, nugatory, peddling, piffling, shallow, trifling, trivial).

What is it about Earth people that makes them think a futile gesture is a noble one (Doctor Who; writing credit: Basil Caplan; Martin Defalco)

Ah, this is futile. Five hundred and seventy-three committee meetings, you haven't even discovered fire yet (The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy; writing credit: Douglas Adams; John Lloyd)

I think this situation absolutely requires that a really futile, stupid gesture be done on somebody's part (Animal House; writing credit: Harold Ramis; Douglas Kenney)

It's a sad, depressing story about a pathetic coyote who spends every waking moment in the futile persuit of a sadistic roadrunner, who mocks him and laughs at him as he is repeatedly crushed and maimed (UHF; writing credit: 'Weird Al' Yankovic; Jay Levey)

Resistance Is Futile (1992)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Bad Neighbor Policy : Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America (reference)

• Futile Efforts (reference)

• Futile Progress (reference)

• Held Captive By Futile Thoughts? Break Free! (reference)

• Israel and Jordan in the Shadow of War: Functional Ties and Futile Diplomacy in a Small Place (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Futile (reference)

• Futile [IMPORT] (reference)

• Resistance Is Futile (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

In a futile effort to save the plate, Lord Louis' stick fell upon the largest fragment. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

He saw clearly too his own futile isolation

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Health

Attempts to eliminate wild rodent plague are costly and futile. (references)

Business

Because French companies essentially dominate the market, competing with them head-to-head may be extremely costly and perhaps futile. (references)

Economic History

Afghanistan

Undercut by deep-seated divisions within the PDPA, regime efforts to broaden its base of support proved futile. (references)

Peru

Spain made futile attempts to regain its former colonies, but in 1879 it finally recognized Peru's independence. (references)

North Korea

This conference met at Geneva in April 1954 but, after 7 weeks of futile debate, ended without agreement or progress. (references)

Human Rights

Turkey

Human rights advocates believe that thousands of detainees were tortured during the year in the southeast, where the problem is particularly serious, but that only 5 to 20 percent reported torture because they fear retaliation or believe that complaints are futile. (references)

Political Rights

Equatorial Guinea

Most opposition parties, claiming that it was futile to run amidst such blatant corruption, boycotted the election. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Beginning with "futile": futile-seeming.

Afrikaans

vrugteloos (abortive, fruitless, useless, vain). (various references)

Albanian

i sipërfaqshëm (external, ostensible, perfunctory, superficial, terraneous), i pavlerë (bad, barren, base, catchpenny, chaffy, cheap, crummy, dud, expendable, fiddling, footling, frivolous, jejune, measly, nugatory, paltry, peddling, tawdry, threepenny, trashy, vain, valueless, worthless), i kotë (feckless, footling, good for nothing, needless, otiose, pointless, unavailing, useless, vain, wanton, worthless). (various references)

Arabic 

باطل (false, vain), ‏فاشل (failing, fruitless, good for nothing, unstuck, unsuccessful, washed up), ‏مهدور (useless, vain), ‏منشغل بالتوافه, ‏لا طائل تحته (unavailing, useless), ‏غير ذي جدوى, ‏عقيم (barren, effete, fruitless, ineffectual, sterile, unfruitful, unproductiveness, useless, vain, void), ‏خائب (failing). (various references)

Bulgarian 

несериозен (easy, fly-by-night, half-baked, light, pococurante, superficial), маловажен (footling, immaterial, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsiderable, insignificant, last, light, minor, nugatory, peddling, pettifogging, petty, puerile, side, small time, trifling, two-by-four, unimportant), безсмислен (absurd, aimless, inane, insensate, inutile, meaningless, mindless, needless, nonsense, nonsensical, pointless, preposterous, purposeless, senseless, sorry, stupid, tomfool, unmeaning, vacuous, vain), безполезен (baubling, bootless, fruitless, ineffective, inutile, naught, needless, no good, nugatory, otiose, pointless, sorry, superfluous, trashy, unavailing, unhelpful, up the spout, useless, vain, void, worthless). (various references)

Chinese 

�'劳, �'勞 . (various references)

Czech

zbyteèný (false, good for nothing, gratuitous, needless, senseless, unnecessary, useless, wasted, wasteful), nicotný (frothy, meaningless, nugatory, trivial, wishy washy), marný (fruitless, hopeless, unsuccessful, useless, vain, wasteful). (various references)

Dutch

vergeefs (abortive, fruitless, useless, vain), nutteloos (abortive, fruitless, good-for-nothing, useless, vain). (various references)

Esperanto

vana (abortive, useless, vain). (various references)

Finnish

turha (abortive, fruitless, needless, of no use, unnecessary, useless, vain). (various references)

French

vain. (various references)

Frisian

idel (abortive, fruitless, useless, vain). (various references)

German

zwecklos (of no use, pointless, purposeless, useless), sinnlos (blind, desperate, forlorn, meaningless, pointless, purposeless, self-defeating, senseless, senselessly, unprofitable, useless), nutzlos (abortive, bootless, feckless, fustily, idle, naff, no-account, of no value, sterile, unavailing, unhelpful, unnecessary, unprofitable, useless, uselessly, vain, valueless), vergeblich (abortive, fruitless, idle, in vain, unavailing, unavailingly, unsuccessful, unsuccessfully, useless, vain, vainly). (various references)

Greek 

μάταιοσ (feckless, idle, inane, nugatory, otiose, pointless, vain), ανωφελήσ (in vain, ineffective, profitless, unavailing, useless, vain). (various references)

Hebrew 

עקר (barren, basis, crux, doctrine, dogma, essence, foundation, gist, impotent, infertile, main, nub, origin, pith, principle, quintessence, root, sterile, substance, tenet), חסר תועלת (ineffective, no earthly use, otiose, useless, vain), סרק (barren, barrenness, emptiness, ineffectual). (various references)

Hungarian

jelentéktelen (baubling, dinkey, dinky, exiguous, fiddle-faddle, footling, frivolous, inappreciable, inconsiderable, insignificant, irrelevant, jerkwater, light, minor, minor details, negligible, niggling, nugatory, null, obscure, of no great importance, of no moment, paltry, petty, piddling, scrubby, slight, small time, tin-pot, trifling, trivial, unimportant, venial), felületes (cursory, desultory, flighty, frivolous, negligent, perfunctory, scratchy, sketchy, skin deep, slipshod, sloppy, smattering, sophomoric, superficial), eredménytelen (barren, ineffectual, inefficient, of no avail, pointless). (various references)

Indonesian

terbantut (stopped up, stunted), sia-sia (in vain, unavailling, useless). (various references)

Italian

futile (nugatory, peddling, piffling, shallow, trifling, trivial), vano (coquettish, doorway, empty, fruitless, idle, ineffectual, nugatory, pointless, pretty, room, space, unsuccessful, useless, vain). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

�' (frivolous, gang, party, set, transient, vain). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

くうそ (groundless, vain), あ� (enemy, enmity, evil, feud, foe, frivolous, grudge, harm, invasion, revenge, ruin, transient, vain), むなしい (empty, ineffective, lifeless, vacant, vain, void), むえき (useless, vain). (various references)

Korean 

무익한 (Profitless, useless). (various references)

Manx

fardailagh (empty, empty of words, frivolous, fruitless, trifling, trivial, unavailing, vain, vain of hope). (various references)

Norwegian

forgjeves, intetsigende. (various references)

Pig Latin

utilefay.(various references)

Polish

daremny (abortive, fruitless, useless, vain). (various references)

Portuguese

vão (abortive, aperture, baubling, empty, fruitless, interspace, needless, nugatory, porthole, unavailing, useless, vain), inútil (abortive, bootless, castaway, empty, fruitless, good-for-nothing, naught, needless, no-go, nugatory, purposeless, rat-trap, sterile, superfluous, supervacaneous, trashy, unavailable, unavailing, unnecessary, unproductive, unprofitable, useless, vain, worthless). (various references)

Romanian

zadarnic (abortive, bootless, fruitless, idle, ineffective, ineffectual, ineffectually, inexpedient, naught, nugatory, otiose, sinful, to no end, unavailing, unfruitful, unnecessary, useless, vain), zadar (vain), van (abortive, flimsy, idle, nugatory, useless, vain, vainglorious), steril (addle, arid, barren, fruitless, infructuous, sterile, unfruitful, useless, vain), nefolositor (castaway, Duff, idle, of no avail, piddling, profitless, unfit, unsuitable, useless, waste), deşert (bare, desert, desolate, empty, unfounded, unoccupied, vacant, vacuum, vain, vainglorious, void, waste, wilderness), de nimic (vile). (various references)

Russian 

бесполезный (abortive, bootless, fatuous, feckless, fiddling, fruitless, good for nothing, idle, inutile, naught, needless, nugatory, of no avail, otiose, unavailing, unhelpful, unprofitable, useless, valueless, virtueless). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zaludan (idle, useless), uzaludan (bootless, ineffective, needless, unavailing, unfruitful, use: no earthly use, vain, wasted), bezuspešan (abortive), besplodan (fruitless, sterile, unfruitful), beskorisan (useless). (various references)

Spanish

fútil (fiddling, inane, trifling). (various references)

Swedish

meningslös (insignificant, meaningless, mindless, nonsensical, purposeless, senseless, wanton), lönlös (useless), fåfäng (conceited, fruitless, idle, unavailing, useless, vain). (various references)

Thai

ไร้ประโยชน์ (fruitless). (various references)

Turkish

nafile (no dice, to no end, unavailing, useless, vain), boş (airy, barren, blank, bootless, captious, chimerical, desert, disengaged, empty, expressionless, fallacious, flat, for hire, free, frivolous, frothy, gaseous, hollow, idle, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, invalid, leisure, meaningless, nugatory, null, pointless, puerile, punk, purposeless, spare, tenantless, thin, trumpery, unbuilt, unbuilt-on, unengaged, unfounded, unoccupied, unprofitable, unrecorded, unwritten-on, vacant, vacuous, vain, void, waste, windy, wishywashy, without any foundation, without foundation, yeasty), beyhude (bootless, in vain, inane, useless, vain), abes (abortive, absurd, fruitless, meaningless, nonsense, nugatory, trivial, unfit, unreasonable, unsuitable, useless, vain). (various references)

Turkmen 

nдhak (vain). (various references)

Ukrainian

нікчемний (contemptible, gewgaw, no-account, not worth a damn, paltry, piffling, punk, riff raff, scrubby, shabby, trifling, unworthy), марний (bootless, feckless, frustrate, idle, naught, needless, nugatory, of no effect, otiose, sleeveless, unavailable, vain). (various references)

Vietnamese 

vô ích (bootless, excrescent, inutile, naught, needless, unavailing, unhelpful, unnecessary, unrequired, unwanted, useless, vainly), không có hiệu quả không đáng kể; phù phiếm. (various references)

Welsh

seithug (bootless, fruitless), di-fudd (unprofitable, useless). (various references)

futilis, nugatorius, sterilem, steriles, sterili, sterilis, vanus. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "futile": futilely, futileness, futilenesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Futile" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fatie, fatile, Fatimeh, Fethiye, Fetilia, feuille, ffutile, fonile, Frutella, frutile, fudie, fuitle, funicle, furtile, fusille, futal, futiel, futil, futiled, futiles, futive, futlie, Hutaple, nutile, rutile. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: filet, flite, flute, utile.

-2 letters: etui, felt, file, flit, flue, fuel, left, lief, lieu, life, lift, lite, litu, lute, tile, tule.

-3 letters: eft, elf, fet, feu, fie, fil, fit, flu, lei, let, leu, lie, lit, tel, tie, til, tui.

-4 letters: ef, el, et, if, it, li, ti, ut.

+1 letter: flutier, sulfite.

+2 letters: faultier, fauteuil, filature, fistulae, flukiest, fluorite, flutiest, fruitlet, futilely, gulfiest, influent, lutefisk, outfield, outflies, spiteful, sulfites, turflike, uplifted, uplifter.

+3 letters: beautiful, bisulfate, bisulfite, blueshift, deceitful, faculties, faultiest, fauteuils, feudalist, feudality, filatures, flauntier, fluffiest, fluorites, flutelike, fruitless, fruitlets, fulgurite, fulminate, furtively, influents, lutefisks, outfields, plentiful, ruffliest, ultrafine, unfertile, uplifters, wulfenite.

+4 letters: bisulfates, bisulfites, blueshifts, cuttlefish, defaulting, delightful, despiteful, faultiness, felicitous, feudalists, feuilleton, filibuster, fitfulness, flauntiest, flounciest, fluidities, fluoridate, fluorinate, fluoxetine, flustering, fluttering, fluviatile, fugitively, fulgurites, fulminated, fulminates, futileness, futilities, infibulate, insufflate, interfluve, outfeeling, outfielder, pitcherful, pitifuller, quatrefoil, snuffliest, spitefully, stultified, stultifies, thimbleful, trisulfide, ultrafiche, unfiltered, unifoliate, uninflated, wulfenites.