as in worthless
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Recent Examples of nonproductive
Course of trade in the oil industry often leaves the public on the hook for nonproductive well cleanup costs, including capping.
—
Andrew Leahey, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Buoyed by the early promise of its Dravet therapeutic, the company developed a second drug candidate, STK-002, that similarly targets splicing to turn nonproductive gene transcripts into constructive ones.
—Elie Dolgin, Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2023
But will this calculation include all the opportunity cost of the expenditure of nonproductive effort?
—WSJ, 16 Aug. 2022
Remove all twiggy, dead or nonproductive growth.
—oregonlive, 8 Mar. 2022
In this framework, nonproductive bodies and ways of living become illegitimate in some way.
—John Patrick Leary, The New Republic, 6 Aug. 2021
Andrew Leahey, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025
Buoyed by the early promise of its Dravet therapeutic, the company developed a second drug candidate, STK-002, that similarly targets splicing to turn nonproductive gene transcripts into constructive ones.
—Elie Dolgin, Discover Magazine, 26 Apr. 2023
But will this calculation include all the opportunity cost of the expenditure of nonproductive effort?
—WSJ, 16 Aug. 2022
Remove all twiggy, dead or nonproductive growth.
—oregonlive, 8 Mar. 2022
In this framework, nonproductive bodies and ways of living become illegitimate in some way.
—John Patrick Leary, The New Republic, 6 Aug. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonproductive
Adjective
-
The San Francisco 49ers are running themselves right out of games with all these worthless carries by Christian McCaffrey.—
Michael Salfino,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
-
But these glasses are worthless without a mobile phone.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
OpenAI, meanwhile, is unprofitable.—
Billy Perrigo,
Time,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Interestingly, though, brokerage strategists' index targets continue to lag the index itself, professional investors are not yet maxed out on equity risk and even the retail-trader frenzy is short of the 2021 binge on unprofitable tech stocks and meme plays.—
Michael Santoli,
CNBC,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
On many of Seattle’s other unproductive runs, the operation just looks out of sync.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
-
On the other hand, Pribula often looked unsure of himself in the pocket, which led to unproductive passing plays.—
Quentin Corpuel,
Kansas City Star,
28 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
The pose Harris struck and held through her unsuccessful 2024 campaign for the White House is called the good soldier.—
Jeremy Lott,
The Washington Examiner,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Now, after years of mostly unsuccessful efforts to eliminate windows from cabins, one luxury jet maker appears to be on the verge of doing just that.—
Mack DeGeurin,
Popular Science,
2 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Even before the arrival of artificial intelligence, the instant availability of information and distraction on the internet was leading students to wonder if the labor of learning was boring and potentially pointless.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
30 Sep. 2025
-
But to hold on to their negotiating leverage, Senate Democrats will likely have to vote against a bill to temporarily extend government funding on Tuesday, just hours before a shutdown — an uncomfortable position for a party that has long denounced shutdowns as pointless and destructive.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
But having 10 power play opportunities also made the game somewhat useless.—
Arpon Basu,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
-
With her charger useless and the screen showing a dangerously low percentage, the reality sank in.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
30 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Even as Nintendo has endlessly mined its classic consoles for nostalgic re-releases in recent decades, the company has seemed to completely ignore the existence of the Virtual Boy—its abortive 1990s dip into the world of early virtual reality.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
12 Sep. 2025
-
Our main girl, Diva, is a diva down, forced into abortive encounters with the A.I. that stands, literally, between the goods and services supportive of her everyday life.—
Lauren Michele Jackson,
New Yorker,
23 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The position advanced by the states is legally unavailing as a matter of longstanding and well-established law.—
WSJ,
WSJ,
25 July 2018
-
Efforts to aid him with lifeboats, three of which were ineffectually trying to breast the heavy sea, were unavailing, while a lifeline, held by a number of rescuers, was carried far out into the surf by a number of swimmers.—
sandiegouniontribune.com,
sandiegouniontribune.com,
6 May 2018
Cite this Entry
“Nonproductive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonproductive. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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