How to Use exercise in futility in a Sentence

exercise in futility

noun phrase

• As the teams are announced, stewards sponge off the water pooling on seats, an exercise in futility.
  — George Caulkin, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2026
• But to others, the shutdown had become an exercise in futility.
  — Nik Popli, Time, 10 Nov. 2025
• Any attempt at driving normally is an exercise in futility with the rear-wheel-drive RV handling like a shopping cart full of bricks.
  — Jason Bennett, Arkansas Online, 19 July 2026
• Ursula von der Leyen ⬆ Getting 27 member nations to agree on anything has been the daily exercise in futility for any European Commission president.
  — Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025
• So this annual four-day event at Mohegan Sun Arena tends to be an exercise in futility for the other 10 teams, though Villanova, at least, figures to join the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament, and a rite of passage into March Madness for UConn.
  — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 10 Mar. 2026