futile

English

Etymology

From Middle French futile, from Latin fūtilis.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfjuː.taɪ.əl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈfju.taɪ.əl/, /ˈfju.təl/
  • Rhymes: -uːtəl (US)

Adjective

futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)

  1. Incapable of producing results; doomed not to be successful; not worth attempting.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:
      No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or […] . And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
    • 1915, George A. Birmingham, “chapter I”, in Gossamer (Project Gutenberg; EBook #24394), London: Methuen & Co., published 8 January 2013 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 558189256:
      There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
    • 2011 December 15, Marc Higginson, “Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport:
      Goals from Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend, Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane sealed the win, but Rubin Kazan's 1-1 draw against PAOK Salonika rendered Spurs' efforts futile.
    Synonym: useless

Synonyms

  • See also Thesaurus:futile

Antonyms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fūtilis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fy.til/
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

futile (plural futiles)

  1. futile

Further reading

Italian

Adjective

futile (masculine and feminine plural futili)

  1. futile

Anagrams

Latin

Adjective

fūtile

  1. nominative neuter singular of fūtilis
  2. accusative neuter singular of fūtilis
  3. vocative neuter singular of fūtilis

References

  • futile in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • futile in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • futile in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
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