: 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
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
Ohtani makes those comparisons somewhat useless.
—
Harry Enten, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
But to borrow Manidis’s framework, the drive to create such a tool conflates useless toil with meaningful labor.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
The rules of grammar were useless now, and never truly rules.
—Sam Lipsyte, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
Miles are useless for trying to define how enormous our galaxy is.
—Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 12 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for useless
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Harry Enten, CNN Money, 24 Oct. 2025
But to borrow Manidis’s framework, the drive to create such a tool conflates useless toil with meaningful labor.
—Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 20 Oct. 2025
The rules of grammar were useless now, and never truly rules.
—Sam Lipsyte, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2025
Miles are useless for trying to define how enormous our galaxy is.
—Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 12 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for useless
Cite this Entry
“Useless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/useless. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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