useless

adjective

use·​less ˈyüs-ləs 

: having or being of no use:

a

: ineffectual

a useless attempt

b

: not doing or not able to do what is needed

a dull, useless knife

An antibiotic is useless in treating this disease.

uselessly adverb

uselessness noun

Synonyms of useless

• impractical
• unusable
• unsuitable

Examples of useless in a Sentence

The tent is useless in wet conditions.

I made a useless attempt at fixing the leak.

Drugs are useless in treating the condition.

Recent Examples on the Web

What Generalist Vendors Actually Solve For Horizontal AI vendors aren’t useless. — Kyle Nakatsuji, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026

Unused Electronics Pope extols the virtues of clearing your house of all useless electronics. — Louise Parks, Martha Stewart, 16 Sep. 2026

Power losses during past fires in Ventura County have left water pumps useless, leaving firefighters short on water. — Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

David Shnaiderov, who directs the Nuclear Quantum division at Quantum X Labs, pointed out that simulating particle transport is useless without a practical way to represent real physical shapes. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

useless

adjective

use·​less ˈyüs-ləs 

: having or being of no use

uselessly adverb

uselessness noun