Synonym Chooser

How is the word fruitless different from other adjectives like it?

The words futile and vain are common synonyms of fruitless. While all three words mean "producing no result," fruitless comes close to vain but often suggests long and arduous effort or severe disappointment.

fruitless efforts to obtain a lasting peace

When might futile be a better fit than fruitless?

The words futile and fruitless are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, futile may connote completeness of failure or unwisdom of undertaking.

resistance had proved so futile that surrender was the only choice left

When can vain be used instead of fruitless?

The words vain and fruitless can be used in similar contexts, but vain usually implies simple failure to achieve a desired result.

a vain attempt to get the car started

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of fruitless Misunderstanding this principle is why networking can sometimes feel fruitless. Amy Lindgren, Twin Cities, 25 Oct. 2025 Keeping senators in town taking fruitless votes, as leaders in both parties have found, is tough to do. Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2025 Sitting alone, day after day, plugging your words into a document can at times feel like a fruitless pursuit. Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2025 Hoping the broadcasts ignore that will always be a fruitless endeavor. Patrick Iversen, New York Times, 9 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fruitless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fruitless
Adjective
  • But her appeal was unsuccessful.
    Ralphie Aversa, USA Today, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Industry lobbying unsuccessful to date Some advocates for the restaurant industry have been lobbying to change the way service fees are treated.
    Cheryl Winokur Munk, CNBC, 8 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • The barren Martian landscape stretches as far as the eye can see, interrupted only occasionally by the faintest of tire tracks marking the unpaved road on Libya’s north-south route.
    Mick Krever, CNN Money, 6 Nov. 2025
  • In the wild, macaques can traverse miles of novel terrain each week and socialize through grooming, but in many laboratories they are isolated in barren cages no bigger than a washing machine.
    Ava Kofman, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Police struggle to maintain order, their wooden sticks cracking against the pavement in a futile attempt to control the sheer mass of people.
    Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 9 Nov. 2025
  • Trying to win new, younger shoppers is expensive and may end up being futile.
    Phil Wahba, Fortune, 7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Rockets and satellites were historically mostly built in massive, sterile places where engineers in Tyvek suits moved cautiously around intricate components.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2025
  • Intelligence Profiles That Foster Innovation At GAIME Conference, creativity is the focus, not sterile conference rooms.
    Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Pattinson plays the character’s increasingly useless husband.
    Zack Sharf, Variety, 5 Nov. 2025
  • My French was useless—I was also considered a tourist by association.
    Lane Nieset, Travel + Leisure, 2 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • That’s one investment that has proved rather unfruitful so far, although things appear to be looking up for WBD investors currently with company on the auction block and simultaneously preparing to separate its cable operations and studios/streaming into to companies.
    Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 29 Oct. 2025
  • The restaurant owned by Dan McCormick taking over the former Village Tavern location, which closed in October 2024, when its lease ran out and negotiations proved unfruitful.
    Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 29 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Fruitless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fruitless. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.

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