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

That’s all well and good, but council members say such amenities would be useless if Atlanta didn’t actually score a new NHL team. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 24 Aug. 2026

The scoring models Claude used to rank its own work were good at separating winners from losers within a target, and useless at predicting which targets would fail. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026

Garcia and Vargas Bustamante both agreed that not all of the health advice available on social media is useless, predatory or incorrect. — Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Their mother is useless and irresponsible, and Neil can’t stand her. — Abigail Van Buren, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 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