useless

adjective

ˈyüs-ləs How to pronounce useless (audio)
Definition of uselessnext
1
as in impractical
not capable of being put to use or account a garage full of useless junk

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in futile
producing no results a useless attempt to reach an agreement

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 useless Which meant that masks were always going to be useless, as pre-pandemic planning research had already confirmed. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 Aug. 2026 That’s all well and good, but council members say such amenities would be useless if Atlanta didn’t actually score a new NHL team. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 24 Aug. 2026 Likewise, politicians who cannot find consensus and pass legislation are useless. — Gary Franks, Hartford Courant, 24 Aug. 2026 The scoring models Claude used to rank its own work were good at separating winners from losers within a target, and useless at predicting which targets would fail. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for useless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for useless
  1. impractical
  2. futile
  3. unusable
  4. unsuccessful
  5. unsuitable
Adjective
  • First glimpsed in The Empire Strikes Back and heavily featured in Return of the Jedi are typical of the Empire; designed to instil fear, but laughably impractical.
    — Chris McMullen, Space.com, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Without the proper port facilities, regulations, safety protocols, and other essentials, nuclear cargo ships are as impractical as steamships without coal or oil refueling stations.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of impractical
Adjective
  • Requests for records from Princeton City Schools, Northwest Local Schools and Mason City Schools also largely proved futile.
    — Grace Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer, 30 Aug. 2026
  • In sick bay, M’Benga tries to remove the table and end his life so Chapel can give up on him, an effort that proves futile.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of futile
Adjective
  • There’s a brief pause, and then my phone goes haywire, inundated with Bluetooth signal spam — new Airpods connections, contact requests, an avalanche of popups that make my phone basically unusable until Hedge shuts it off.
    — Jack Crosbie, Rolling Stone, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Phoenix Semiconductor engineers helped NAVAIR recover a supply of unusable legacy chips for a safety-critical system on the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of unusable
Adjective
  • The business hired attorneys to appeal the county’s assessment, Cerny said, but were unsuccessful.
    — Evgenia Anastasakos, Chicago Tribune, 6 Sep. 2026
  • Alonso may have had an unsuccessful spell managing Real Madrid, but went unbeaten to win the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen in his second season of senior management.
    — Art de Roché, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of unsuccessful
Adjective
  • Guy acknowledges, though, that this could lead to the level of chaos depicted in a memorable 2009 episode of The Office, where staff show up in an array of unsuitable outfits.
    — Chloe Veltman, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026
  • That could allow geothermal projects to operate in locations that have traditionally been considered unsuitable for geothermal development.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of unsuitable

Browse Nearby Words

usefulness
useless
uselessness
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Cite this Entry

“Useless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/useless. Accessed 8 Sep. 2026.

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