How to Use futile in a Sentence

futile

adjective

• All our efforts proved futile.
• The man made a few more futile attempts to rob the store.
  — Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 8 July 2023
• One detainee kicks the bars in a futile attempt to force the door open.
  — Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2023
• The tiger slowly moved its paws in a futile attempt to block the blows.
  — New York Times, 26 July 2019
• Then: the futile attempts to find a friend who would take her in.
  — Washington Post, 21 Aug. 2020
• Brekke was called out on the night the ship sank in a futile effort of recovery.
  — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 27 Dec. 2018
• Some lessons take a long and seemingly futile amount of time to learn.
  — David G. Allan, CNN, 2 Feb. 2023
• On the biggest lot, he soon got stuck in a futile cul-de-sac of trucks.
  — Washington Post, 21 Dec. 2021
• Hao might have been packing for a life of exile or a futile trip to the airport.
  — Han Zhang, New York Times, 3 Aug. 2023
• His search for that first inmate who read it proved futile.
  — AZCentral.com, 1 Oct. 2020
• In such a case, resistance is not futile, for the virus that is.
  — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 30 June 2022
• Its virtues are too many to count; doing so would be futile.
  — New York Times, 20 Apr. 2021
• Like all good galas, the pomp and circumstance are not futile.
  — Isiah Magsino, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2022
• But the new Echo Show is proof that the effort isn't futile.
  — Valentina Palladino, Ars Technica, 8 Oct. 2018
• The futile attempts to comprehend this heinous act, and the hours of hugs and tears, soon gave way to anger.
  — Ted Deutch, Variety, 18 Oct. 2023
• My fear is that complaining to the owner will be futile.
  — Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, 27 Mar. 2021
• All those futile, flamboyant projects have come to a halt.
  — Hernan Diaz, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Feb. 2023
• By that measure, no other team in the majors has been so futile.
  — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2023
• Diego said he was left with the impression that speaking out would be futile.
  — Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2021
• The task must feel futile for Oregon State fans on game days.
  — oregonlive, 29 Sep. 2019
• Chase partner around house in futile attempt to rub extra cream on back of his neck.
  — Claire Friedman, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2020
• The efforts to scare off Sam and Jay are heroic but futile.
  — John Anderson, WSJ, 5 Oct. 2021
• And their offense is back to looking as futile as ever.
  — Dave Hyde, sun-sentinel.com, 12 June 2019
• Predicting which teams might become the top ones for the playoffs is futile.
  — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan. 2024
• And when resolve is wearing thin and hope feels futile, sometimes the only thing left to do is laugh.
  — Cassidy George, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2023
• Working out can feel futile at first and monotonous once it has been done for a while.
  — Megan Oster, chicagotribune.com, 19 Mar. 2021
• To worry about displacement is futile, and to base plans on it is wasteful.
  — Barry Diller, WIRED, 1 Feb. 1995
• For all but the most ardent activists, resistance has come to feel futile.
  — Paolo Bosonin, WSJ, 26 Dec. 2018
• Our military was mired in two costly, futile wars, with no end in sight.
  — Steve Chapman, chicagotribune.com, 12 June 2019
• These efforts might seem futile, but the patients and their parents indulge this.
  — Maria Kefalas, STAT, 22 Dec. 2023

Last Updated: 25 Apr 2024