as in aimless
having or seeming to have no purpose or reason
I have to go to another purposeless meeting tonight. purposeless suffering
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Recent Examples of purposeless
But here’s a question: How much longer can the country afford to lure so many of its promising talents into a life of purposeless paper-pushing and legalized economic vandalism that antitrust has become?
—
Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Marine biologists had thought that the pelvic bones were purposeless in the marine environment, and would eventually disappear given another million or so years of evolution.
—Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Marine biologists had thought that the pelvic bones were purposeless in the marine environment, and would eventually disappear given another million or so years of evolution.
—Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposeless
Adjective
-
Meetings without purpose are not aimless.—
Nirit Cohen,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
-
The pleasure Warner brings to the exchange reflects just how much his character has transformed from an aimless teen afraid to fail into an adult who recognizes that trial and error are part of life.—
Laura Bradley,
The Atlantic,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
The Russo-Ukrainian war, and the Israel-Iran conflict have both shown that sophistication alone is meaningless if delivered in teaspoon doses.—
Amir Husain,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
-
My worry is that AI use becomes ubiquitous enough that the label becomes meaningless—like saying a house was built with a pneumatic brad nailer versus a hammer.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
In this instance, Winston, after his mutation, is looking clean house on Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), a corrupt businessman whose haphazard ways led to his terminal illness and skirts treating him for it.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
-
But the study said many students, parents and school officials felt the roll-out of the policy was haphazard and that enforcement has been inconsistent.—
Scott Travis,
Sun Sentinel,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
The higher the position, the greater the visibility, and the more costly even minor lapses become.—
Julian Hayes II,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Blue jumpsuits indicate an immigration infraction or a minor criminal charge; red ones denote a more serious crime.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Seattle did very little to silence those critics in Week 1.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
-
He was joined by little bro Jason, who's younger than him by 13 months.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
This method is a significant departure from traditional chemical recycling techniques like pyrolysis, which operate at lower temperatures (450–600°C) and produce over a hundred different by-products, many of which are useless.—
Aman Tripathi,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Economists usually look at new jobs, but immigration is now very low, making that figure useless as a measure of how the economy is doing.—
Bill Conerly,
Forbes.com,
30 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Facts felt like pointless things, and the best way to love someone is to not look away from their pain.—
Sarah Adler
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
-
The rest are kind of pointless.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Barefoot driving is legal in all 50 states, with the one slight exception being Alabama where footwear is required on motorcycles.—
Georgea Kovanis,
The Courier-Journal,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Mail-in voting is now more popular among Democrats In the 2008 presidential election, there was only a slight difference in the popularity of mail-in voting by political party, according to a data analysis by Charles Stewart, director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.—
Carlie Procell,
USA Today,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Purposeless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposeless. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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