Word of the Day Archive
Saturday November 4, 2000
ineffectual \in-ih-FEK-choo-uhl\ , adjective:
Not producing the proper effect; without effect; weak; useless; futile; unavailing.
Rush, the aging black Labrador that had waited patiently outside during lunch, ran joyfully on the beach, splashing in the water, making ineffectual attempts to catch a seagull.
-- Annabel Davis-Goff, The Dower House
The case sobered Coley not only because of the speed with which the cancer killed, but because of the crude, puny, and utterly ineffectual obstacles hurled by her doctors to impede its fatal course.
-- Stephen S. hall, A Commotion in the Blood
On the one hand, the North Korean leadership resolutely refused to experiment with any serious economic reforms and only dabbled in ineffectual foreign investment legislation.
-- Nicholas Eberstadt, The End of North Korea
Ineffectual ultimately comes from Latin in-, negative prefix + effectus, "effect, result," from efficere, "to produce, to effect," from ex, "out of" + facere, "to make."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for ineffectual
