useless

[ yoos-lis ]

adjective

1. of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile:

   It is useless to reason with him.

   Synonyms: profitless, inutile, worthless, valueless, fruitless

   Antonyms: effective

2. without useful qualities; of no practical good:

   a useless person; a useless gadget.

   Synonyms: unusable, unserviceable

useless

/ ˈjuːslɪs /

adjective

1. having no practical use or advantage
2. informal.
   ineffectual, weak, or stupid

   he's useless at history

Derived Forms

• ˈuselessly, adverb
• ˈuselessness, noun

Other Words From

• useless·ly adverb
• useless·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of useless¹

First recorded in 1585–95; use + -less

Synonym Study

Useless, futile, ineffectual, vain refer to that which is unavailing. That is useless which is unavailing because of the circumstances of the case or some inherent defect: It is useless to cry over spilt milk. Futile suggests wasted effort and complete failure to attain a desired end: All attempts were futile. That which is ineffectual weakly applies energy in an ill-advised way and does not produce a desired effect: an ineffectual effort. That which is vain is fruitless or hopeless even after all possible effort: It is vain to keep on hoping.

Example Sentences

In any contest to name the cruelest and most useless healthcare “reform” favored by Republicans and conservatives, it would be hard to beat the idea of applying work requirements to Medicaid.

From Los Angeles Times

“The effort is praiseworthy, but so excessively tardy that it is perfectly useless,” a collective of linguists wrote in the Liberation newspaper on Thursday.

From BBC

He has told the jury all the information he gave the Iranians was “fake” or “useless”.

From BBC

But civil discourse has been ground down to a useless nub at this point, and a presidential candidate can share crude jokes about his opponent with barely a blip in the news cycle.

From Salon

The few times I’ve tried it I’ve felt somewhere between useless to misused, treading the empty road between households where no one is home and no one talks.

From Salon

Related Words

• counterproductive
• fruitless
• futile
• hopeless
• idle
• impractical
• incompetent
• ineffective
• ineffectual
• inoperative
• meaningless
• no good
• pointless
• stupid
• unproductive
• unworkable
• worthless