1
as in futility
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2
as in pointlessness
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of uselessness
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
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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What followed was 20 years of futility.—
Hannah Keyser,
CNN Money,
4 May 2026
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The Magic’s playoff futility continues.—
Jason Beede,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 May 2026
Noun
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Such expeditions can turn into a Buddhistic exercise in enlightened pointlessness.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Noun
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So Tidwell could emerge as a rotation candidate if the team needs a remedy for injury or ineffectiveness of a member of the Giants’ starting five.—
Andrew Baggarly,
New York Times,
29 Apr. 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
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Problems shrink into insignificance.—
Shilo Urban,
Travel + Leisure,
22 Nov. 2025
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Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
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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Lift up your eyes unto the hills, and behold all that delightful emptiness.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
6 May 2026
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Elijah Strand, Athena’s uncle, told the court that Horner’s actions devastated their family and left them with an emptiness that can’t be filled.—
Harriet Ramos
May 5,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Uselessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/uselessness. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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