1
as in futility
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2
as in pointlessness
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of uselessness
The fear of uselessness explains why the banker Eric Tao (Ken Leung) leaves a cushy retirement to get back to finance, even at the cost of neglecting his kids.
—
Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2026
Holding back tears, Marta called out the uselessness of comparing this season to last year’s championship run.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2025
Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2026
Holding back tears, Marta called out the uselessness of comparing this season to last year’s championship run.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for uselessness
Noun
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That completed Colorado’s three-game sweep at Citi Field, extending the Mets’ run of futility to 15 losses in 17 games.—
Peter Sblendorio,
New York Daily News,
27 Apr. 2026
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Michael’s commercial reception may seem to show the futility of trying to litigate truth regarding someone as once-beloved as its subject.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Such expeditions can turn into a Buddhistic exercise in enlightened pointlessness.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Delaying this only demonstrates the organization’s ineffectiveness in today’s NBA.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
27 Apr. 2026
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Those numbers make Kaprizov’s ineffectiveness even more sobering as the Wild search for answers against the Stars.—
Dane Mizutani,
Twin Cities,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The irony and meaninglessness of the carnage rankles, especially when Ulysses is presented as such a nice guy who is prone to de-escalation in his day-to-day work.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2026
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The irony and meaninglessness of the violence rankles, especially when Ulysses is presented as such a nice guy who is prone to de-escalation and community care in his day-to-day work.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Problems shrink into insignificance.—
Shilo Urban,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Nov. 2025
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Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The post-liberals stand for cruelty and inanity, but Brooks can’t admit to standing for much of anything at all.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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All this inanity takes place over the course of a handful of days, during which no one ever seems to change clothes.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Why do people team up around an emptiness, so much spent breath?—
Julian Bell,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
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The scene leaves us wondering about the sudden emptiness.—
Paul Sutter,
Space.com,
25 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Uselessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/uselessness. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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