bootless

adjective

ˈbüt-ləs How to pronounce bootless (audio)
Definition of bootlessnext
as in unsuccessful
producing no results a bootless effort to get tickets to the sold-out game

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bootless
  1. unsuccessful
  2. futile
  3. useless
  4. unavailing
Adjective
  • The business hired attorneys to appeal the county’s assessment, Cerny said, but were unsuccessful.
    — Evgenia Anastasakos, Chicago Tribune, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Alonso may have had an unsuccessful spell managing Real Madrid, but went unbeaten to win the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in his second season of senior management.
    — Art de Roché, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of unsuccessful
Adjective
  • Requests for records from Princeton City Schools, Northwest Local Schools and Mason City Schools also largely proved futile.
    — Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 Aug. 2026
  • In sick bay, M’Benga tries to remove the table and end his life so Chapel can give up on him, an effort that proves futile.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of futile
Adjective
  • David Shnaiderov, who directs the Nuclear Quantum division at Quantum X Labs, pointed out that simulating particle transport is useless without a practical way to represent real physical shapes.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2026
  • However, this doesn’t mean the devices are completely useless.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of useless
Adjective
  • On Saturday, Durant reaffirmed his stance that the question of his and other superstars’ effort was an unavailing narrative to explore every February.
    — Devon Henderson, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2026
  • The position advanced by the states is legally unavailing as a matter of longstanding and well-established law.
    — WSJ, WSJ, 25 July 2018
Definition of unavailing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bootlegs
bootless
bootlessness
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Cite this Entry

“Bootless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bootless. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

A List of Most Commonly Confused Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 4
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

The Longest Long Words List

Stay Woke
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
anagrams on a chalk board
Word Builder Quiz Vol. 2 Pick the letter that when added to a word will ma...
See All