vain

play

adjective \ˈvān\

Definition of vain

1 : having or showing undue or excessive pride in one's appearance or achievements : conceited
2 : marked by futility or ineffectualness : unsuccessful, useless vain efforts to escape
3 : having no real value : idle, worthless vain pretensions
4 archaic : foolish, silly

vainly

adverb

vainness

play \ˈvān-nəs\ noun

in vain

1 : to no end : without success or result her efforts were in vain
2 : in an irreverent or blasphemous manner you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain — Deuteronomy 5:11 (Revised Standard Version)

See vain defined for English-language learners

See vain defined for kids

Examples of vain in a Sentence

For a half a century, scholars have searched in vain for the source of the jade that the early civilizations of the Americas prized above all else and fashioned into precious objects of worship, trade and adornment. —William J. Broad, New York Times, 22 May 2002
… the miseries of people's lives ought not to be exploited ad libitum in the furtherance of our profits or our careers, and in the vain conviction that we understand everything. —Richard Taruskin, New Republic, 24 Dec. 2001
It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it. —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847
Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us. —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain … —William Shakespeare, King Richard the Second, 1596
She is very vain about her appearance.
He is the vainest man I know.
A vain effort to quell the public's fears only made matters worse.
Volunteers searched the area in the vain hope of finding clues.

Recent Examples of vain from the Web

Idiosyncratic and biased, obfuscatory and boastful, even unctuous and vain, the Hollywood memoir is not going to portray the past in a clear light.

— the editors, The Atlantic, "Serena Williams and Okja: The Week in Pop-Culture Writing", 1 July 2017
For blacks can see themselves as inhabitants, willy-nilly, of a powerful, vain, imperial-minded country that’s shooting itself in the foot.

— norman mailer, Daily Intelligencer, "Black and White Justice", 30 June 2017
Idiosyncratic and biased, obfuscatory and boastful, even unctuous and vain, the Hollywood memoir is not going to portray the past in a clear light.

— carolyn kellogg, latimes.com, "The guilty pleasure of reading Hollywood memoirs", 29 June 2017
Tossed into this foreboding world is Arlen (Suki Waterhouse), a vain young woman who is captured within the first few moments of the film.

— rick bentley, kansascity, "‘The Bad Batch’ tells a strange story in strange but intriguing ways", 22 June 2017
In the service of the former, poor Hopkins has to deliver a flurry of exposition in the middle of the movie -- including an unnecessary detour to Nazi Germany, apparently in vain pursuit of justifying the epic length and scale.

— brian lowry, CNN, "'Transformers' assembles a long, tedious 'Last Knight'", 21 June 2017
For vain people like me, these are more like threats than a set of disparate options.

— ashley weatherford, The Cut, "The Best Sunscreen for Oily Skin Is Also Pretty Cheap", 19 June 2017
Forget the nuclear annihilation lying under the earth, waiting to be loosed into the skies by some vain madman.

— richard lawson, Vanities, "Hamptons Catastrophe: Vandalism of Controversial Sculpture Roils Sag Harbor", 9 June 2017
Behind the inbred upper-class arrogance, the taste for adventure, lies the self-hate of a vain misfit for whom nothing will ever be worthy of his loyalty.

— philip kerr, New York Times, "Two Brothers Are Assets and Liabilities in Joseph Kanon’s Spy Novel", 2 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vain'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of vain

Middle English veyn “empty, futile, groundless, foolish, excessively proud,” borrowed from Anglo-French vain, vein, going back to Latin vānus “lacking content, empty, illusory, marked by foolish or empty pride” — more at ¹wane

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First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of vain

futile, vain, fruitless mean producing no result. futile may connote completeness of failure or unwisdom of undertaking. resistance had proved so futile that surrender was the only choice left vain usually implies simple failure to achieve a desired result. a vain attempt to get the car started fruitless comes close to vain but often suggests long and arduous effort or severe disappointment. fruitless efforts to obtain a lasting peace

vain, nugatory, otiose, idle, empty, hollow mean being without worth or significance. vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value. vain promises nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance. a monarch with nugatory powers otiose suggests that something serves no purpose and is either an encumbrance or a superfluity. a film without a single otiose scene idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect. idle speculations empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or soundness or genuineness. an empty attempt at reconciliation a hollow victory

VAIN Defined for English Language Learners

vain

play

adjective

Definition of vain for English Language Learners

: too proud of your own appearance, abilities, achievements, etc.
: having no success : not producing a desired result

VAIN Defined for Kids

vain

play

adjective \ˈvān\

Definition of vain for Students

vainer

;

vainest

1 : having no success He made a vain effort to escape.
2 : having or showing the attitude of a person who thinks too highly of his or her looks or abilities

vainly

adverb I looked at the others, searching vainly for a sympathetic face. — Gail Carson Levine, Ella Enchanted

in vain

1 : without success I searched in vain for my key.
2 : in an unholy way

Headscratcher for vain

Vain, vane, and vein sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Someone who is vain is conceited. A vane, as in weather vane, is a device that shows which direction the wind is blowing. A vein is a small tube in the body that carries blood to the heart.