as in futile
producing no results
an unsuccessful attempt to fix the faucet ourselves
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unsuccessful
Attempts to reach the other two members, Scott Boswell and Tom Whittaker, were unsuccessful.
—
Kennedy Sessions, Kansas City Star, 3 Aug. 2025
Efforts to reach Farmer and his attorney by cellphone Friday night were unsuccessful.
—Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 1 Aug. 2025
Zakrzewski's lawyers filed several unsuccessful appeals over the years, including a final plea for a stay of execution, which the U.S. Supreme Court denied on Wednesday.
—Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Elon Musk's super PAC spent $47.4 million in the first half of 2024, primarily supporting Brad Schimel's unsuccessful Wisconsin Supreme Court bid.
—Daniel Bice, jsonline.com, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unsuccessful
Kennedy Sessions, Kansas City Star, 3 Aug. 2025
Efforts to reach Farmer and his attorney by cellphone Friday night were unsuccessful.
—Angie Dimichele, Sun Sentinel, 1 Aug. 2025
Zakrzewski's lawyers filed several unsuccessful appeals over the years, including a final plea for a stay of execution, which the U.S. Supreme Court denied on Wednesday.
—Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Elon Musk's super PAC spent $47.4 million in the first half of 2024, primarily supporting Brad Schimel's unsuccessful Wisconsin Supreme Court bid.
—Daniel Bice, jsonline.com, 1 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unsuccessful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsuccessful
Adjective
-
Attempts by deputies and paramedics to revive him were futile, and he was pronounced dead at 4:40 p.m.—
Kelly Davis,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Aug. 2025
-
Even finding enough people to fill all the jobs that would be needed would be futile, given the size of the workforce and the unemployment rate.—
Sheldon H. Jacobson,
Twin Cities,
23 July 2025
Adjective
-
The deals typically provide revenue for the host community while enabling the solar industry to cover essentially useless land with solar panels rather than taking out-of-service farmland, open fields or similar space.—
Don Stacom,
Hartford Courant,
5 Aug. 2025
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Infrastructure is useless without operators who can manage it.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Brat Summer, last year’s abortive attempt to turn the screechy Charli XCX album of that name into a culture-spanning event, has given way to a season without name or form.—
Armin Rosen,
The Washington Examiner,
25 July 2025
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On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution.—
David Lyman,
The Enquirer,
25 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unsuccessful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsuccessful. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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