1
as in futility
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2
as in pointlessness
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Recent Examples of uselessness
The goal isn't to restrict agents into uselessness.
—
Ajay Pundhir, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2026
The fear of uselessness explains why the banker Eric Tao (Ken Leung) leaves a cushy retirement to get back to finance, even at the cost of neglecting his kids.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2026
Holding back tears, Marta called out the uselessness of comparing this season to last year’s championship run.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2025
Ajay Pundhir, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2026
The fear of uselessness explains why the banker Eric Tao (Ken Leung) leaves a cushy retirement to get back to finance, even at the cost of neglecting his kids.
—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2026
Holding back tears, Marta called out the uselessness of comparing this season to last year’s championship run.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 8 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for uselessness
Noun
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The New York Knicks are going to the NBA Finals with a chance to erase a long run of postseason futility.—
Bob Harkins,
New York Times,
28 May 2026
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For the next 130 years, Smith won one CIAA conference title, in 1969, and was generally a poster child for football futility.—
Langston Wertz Jr,
Charlotte Observer,
22 May 2026
Noun
-
Such expeditions can turn into a Buddhistic exercise in enlightened pointlessness.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Houston’s pitching staff awoke on Monday with the sport’s highest ERA, a byproduct of injuries to most of their season-opening rotation and the ineffectiveness of those who’ve stayed healthy.—
Chandler Rome,
New York Times,
26 May 2026
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Delaying this only demonstrates the organization’s ineffectiveness in today’s NBA.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The motive behind the trend is rather unclear, but like much of Gen-Z and Generation Alpha culture, the meaning could come from the meaninglessness.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
30 Apr. 2026
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The irony and meaninglessness of the carnage rankles, especially when Ulysses is presented as such a nice guy who is prone to de-escalation in his day-to-day work.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Problems shrink into insignificance.—
Shilo Urban,
Travel + Leisure,
19 May 2026
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What Choudary has in mind instead is a total redesign of work that forces today’s employees to choose between being a regular worker who quickly sinks into insignificance by automation, or functioning as an employee-preneur.—
Rachel Wells,
Forbes.com,
19 May 2026
Noun
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But the flight to extremism, and the metastasizing inanity, is a two-party problem, and those of us who are Democrats and who care about the importance of regrowing the dormant (if not dead) political center have an obligation to try to do something about it.—
Jeffrey Robbins,
Boston Herald,
4 May 2026
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The post-liberals stand for cruelty and inanity, but Brooks can’t admit to standing for much of anything at all.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Interstellar space is unforgivingly vast, but the emptiness has some advantages.—
Kai James,
The Conversation,
26 May 2026
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The Tuesday parking shortage and the Monday emptiness are not anomalies to correct.—
Chase Garbarino,
Fortune,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Uselessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/uselessness. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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