defeat the purpose of

idiom

: to make (something) pointless
It would defeat the purpose of having a nice car if you never got to drive it.

Examples of defeat the purpose of in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Plugging the gap between the flashing and the window trim or lower panel would trap moisture and defeat the purpose of the flashing. Jeanne Huber, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2023 Putting on an opaque case would defeat the purpose of the Glyph system, but there's more to the Nothing Phone (2) than its back. Iyaz Akhtar, PCMAG, 11 July 2023 That would defeat the purpose of passive collection, Park said, which is key to smart toilet success. Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 June 2023 Eye-tracking cameras are the most likely solution since nagging the driver periodically would defeat the purpose of Level 3 autonomy. Tim De Chant, Ars Technica, 6 Jan. 2022 Many crypto enthusiasts argue that regulation could stunt innovation and defeat the purpose of decentralized currency, which is to cut out middlemen like big banks and the federal government. Ivana Pino, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2022 The main challenge was that this was to be a TV show with many theme songs — which would seem to defeat the purpose of having a theme song. Devan Coggan, EW.com, 22 Jan. 2021 Many, many children -- especially as stay-at-home order are lifted -- are going to congregate outside of schools and kind of defeat the purpose of it. Fox News, 24 June 2020 The agency began to ask questions about those stays and learned that Cagle had shared the hotel rooms with his son and his ex-girlfriend and was visited in the hotel by another unnamed woman, which would defeat the purpose of using the room to quarantine. Hartford Courant, 6 Dec. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'defeat the purpose of.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near defeat the purpose of

Cite this Entry

“Defeat the purpose of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/defeat%20the%20purpose%20of. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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