as in uselessness
the quality or state of being useless
The two engaged in a long discussion on the futility of war. He felt saddened by the apparent futility of his efforts to console her.
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Recent Examples of futility
That’s right, a streak of futility ended with a run of 11 straight offensive possessions without the Dolphins forcing a punt.
—
Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 14 Sep. 2025
Yet parsing the distinctions between Bluesky and X has a burgeoning air of futility.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2025
The defeat and near no-no underscored the season-long futility by Colorado, which is the first team with three straight 100-loss seasons since the Astros from 2011-13.
—Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 9 Sep. 2025
Unfortunately, since that run, Craig has been on a nasty futility streak.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for futility
Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 14 Sep. 2025
Yet parsing the distinctions between Bluesky and X has a burgeoning air of futility.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2025
The defeat and near no-no underscored the season-long futility by Colorado, which is the first team with three straight 100-loss seasons since the Astros from 2011-13.
—Kyle Newman, Denver Post, 9 Sep. 2025
Unfortunately, since that run, Craig has been on a nasty futility streak.
—Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for futility
Recent Examples of Synonyms for futility
Noun
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At New York Fashion Week, beauty acted as a moment of reprise from the hopelessness many are feeling in the current state of the world.—
Essence,
Essence,
19 Sep. 2025
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The film certainly steers clear of Emmerichian overdrive, but it is suffused with hopelessness — on both an intimate and an epic scale.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Previous attempts to produce HBL sustainably achieved only limited success due to safety issues, ineffectiveness or a lack of cost-efficiency, according to the study team.—
Hannah Millington,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
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There are glimpses of improvement that are quickly overshadowed by long bouts of ineffectiveness.—
Troy Renck,
Denver Post,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Brands that rely solely on AI risk not just irrelevance, but inefficacy.—
Sean DallasKidd,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
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As research highlighted the inefficacy and unintended consequences of these laws, states rolled them back or modified them, mostly by partially repealing them or reducing the severity of mandatory sentences.—
John Leverso,
The Conversation,
26 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Elimination can take longer for people who eat a lot of salt, have kidney disease or a potassium deficiency, or are dehydrated.—
MD Published,
Verywell Health,
26 Sep. 2025
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That’s a bad recipe for a CU team that’s yet to solve its deficiencies in the trenches.—
Kyle Newman,
Denver Post,
26 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Futility.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/futility. Accessed 29 Sep. 2025.
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