futile
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle French futile, from Latin fūtilis.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)
- 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, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:
- 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.
Synonyms[edit]
- useless, see also Thesaurus:futile
Antonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
incapable of producing results
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French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
futile (plural futiles)
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “futile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Italian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin fūtilis (“futile, worthless”, literally “that easily pours out”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
futile (masculine and feminine plural futili)
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
References[edit]
- futile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Latin[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Adverb[edit]
fūtile (not comparable)
Synonyms[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fūtile
- nominative neuter singular of fūtilis
- accusative neuter singular of fūtilis
- vocative neuter singular of fūtilis
References[edit]
- 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
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰew-
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
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- Italian terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰew-
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