Library / English Dictionary

USELESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully

Example:

she is useless in an emergency

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

futile; ineffectual; meaningless; otiose; unavailing (producing no result or effect)

inutile (not worth using)

unserviceable; unusable; unuseable (not capable of being used)

Also:

ineffective; ineffectual; uneffective (not producing an intended effect)

unprofitable (producing little or no profit or gain)

unserviceable (not ready for service)

Attribute:

usefulness; utility (the quality of being of practical use)

Antonym:

useful (being of use or service)

Derivation:

uselessness (the quality of having no practical use)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Their conduct has been such,” replied Elizabeth, “as neither you, nor I, nor anybody can ever forget. It is useless to talk of it.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But it is a useless sailor who does not risk himself every day, and the lives of all of us are in the hands of Him who best knows when to claim them.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To save herself from useless remonstrance, Mrs. Price never wrote to her family on the subject till actually married.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Now that we’ve everything cleaned up, we’ll have the funeral and get the decks cleared of useless lumber.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

‘It is utterly useless,’ replied Felix; ‘we can never again inhabit your cottage.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The fog was so thick that a cab was useless.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He assures them that their last sample is impure and quite useless for his present purpose.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Finding all remonstrance useless, the three comrades hastened on their way, leaving these strange travellers to their dreary task.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Anne did not receive the perfect conviction which the Admiral meant to convey, but it would have been useless to press the enquiry farther.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But the knowledge would have been useless here; it was not called for; neither clemency nor dignity was put to the trial—Eleanor brought no message.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)