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
Unfortunately, since that run, Craig has been on a nasty futility streak.
—
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
Scrappy and opportunistic, undeterred by mistakes or bouts with futility.
—Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
Nosaka’s use of these terms could be interpreted as emphasizing the futility of Seita’s death, and possibly justifying—or at least explaining—his own behavior.
—Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for futility
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
Scrappy and opportunistic, undeterred by mistakes or bouts with futility.
—Marcus Thompson Ii, New York Times, 5 Sep. 2025
Nosaka’s use of these terms could be interpreted as emphasizing the futility of Seita’s death, and possibly justifying—or at least explaining—his own behavior.
—Ginny Tapley Takemori
september 4, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 28 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for futility
Recent Examples of Synonyms for futility
Noun
-
As history tells us, when the most vicious wars inevitably come to an end, destruction, chaos and hopelessness are left in their wake.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Today that sense of hopelessness has been replaced by a sense of determination and a good deal more hope.—
Gabrielle Emanuel,
NPR,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
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He's played just 15 of 32 games and suffered multiple injuries and been benched for ineffectiveness multiple times.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Brands that rely solely on AI risk not just irrelevance, but inefficacy.—
Sean DallasKidd,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
-
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
-
The Maasai had vitamin A and C deficiencies due to meat and dairy exclusivity.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
13 Sep. 2025
-
B vitamins have been reported to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and depression associated with vitamin B12 deficiency.—
Alessandra Signorelli,
Vogue,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Futility.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/futility. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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