1
as in futility
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2
as in pointlessness
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Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for uselessness
Noun
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The White Sox, yes, those White Sox who lost a modern-era record 121 games last year, have attendance more commensurate with their futility.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
30 Aug. 2025 -
Ultimately, this film’s absurd existentialist deadpan aligns Lanthimos’ work here closer to Ruben Östlund than ever — himself a filmmaker likely drawing from Lanthimos these days — to mine the comedy of repetitious futility to disorienting effect.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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He's played just 15 of 32 games and suffered multiple injuries and been benched for ineffectiveness multiple times.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Whether through meditation, prayer, ritual, or service, spiritual engagement appears to offer a sense of belonging and alignment with something greater—an antidote to isolation and meaninglessness in an age that often prizes individualism.—
Robert B. Tucker,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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She’s contacted by an alternate version of her husband who tells her that another version of their daughter, Joy, has been driven mad by the apparent meaninglessness of any single version of existence.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Her difficulty lay in her distance from the random violence of insignificance.—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
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His groundbreaking work reveals how a hidden epidemic of insignificance is quietly eroding engagement, trust, and performance in organizations, and what leaders can do to reverse it.—
Rodger Dean Duncan,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Noun
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For the past four years, Honan has been a worm in Adams’s apple, scoring scoop after scoop about the dramas, inanities, and intrigues of his administration.—
Eric Lach,
New Yorker,
21 Aug. 2025
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The previous sentence illustrates the inanity of my desire.—
Michael Robbins,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Voisin — who played another hero of a French classic in Xavier Giannoli’s 2021 adaptation of Balzac’s Lost Illusions — carries the entire drama as a lost soul whose physical beauty (perfect jawline, killer abs) can hardly conceal the emptiness inside of him.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Sep. 2025
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When Scout died, Watson was left grappling with an emptiness that followed her home each day.—
Ashley Vega,
People.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Uselessness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/uselessness. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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