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useless
4 dictionary results for: useless
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
use·less       [yoos-lis] Pronunciation Key
–adjective
1.of no use; not serving the purpose or any purpose; unavailing or futile: It is useless to reason with him.
2.without useful qualities; of no practical good: a useless person; a useless gadget.
[Origin: 1585–95; use + -less]

—Related forms
use·less·ly, adverb
use·less·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. fruitless, profitless, valueless, worthless, inutile. 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. 2. unserviceable, unusable.
—Antonyms 1. effective.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
use·less       (yōōs'lĭs)  Pronunciation Key 
adj.  
  1. Being or having no beneficial use; futile or ineffective.
  2. Incapable of functioning or assisting; ineffectual: He panics easily and is useless in an emergency. See Synonyms at futile.

use'less·ly adv., use'less·ness n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
useless

adjective
having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully; "a kitchen full of useless gadgets"; "she is useless in an emergency" [ant: useful] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Useless

Use"less\, a. Having, or being of, no use; unserviceable; producing no good end; answering no valuable purpose; not advancing the end proposed; unprofitable; ineffectual; as, a useless garment; useless pity.

Not to sit idle with so great a gift Useless, and thence ridiculous. --Milton.

Syn: Fruitless; ineffectual.

Usage: Useless, Fruitless, Ineffectual. We speak of an attempt, effort, etc., as being useless when there are in it inherent difficulties which forbid the hope of success, as fruitless when it fails, not from any such difficulties, but from some unexpected hindrance arising to frustrate it; as, the design was rendered fruitless by the death of its projector. Ineffectual nearly resembles fruitless, but implies a failure of a less hopeless character; as, after several ineffectual efforts, I at last succeeded.

Useless are all words Till you have writ "performance" with your swords. The other is for waiving. --Beau. & Fl.

Waiving all searches into antiquity, in relation to this controversy, as being either needless or fruitless. --Waterland.

Even our blessed Savior's preaching, who spake as never man spake, was ineffectual to many. --Bp. Stillingfleet. -- Use"less*ly, adv. -- Use"less*ness, n.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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