1
as in smug
having too high an opinion of oneself
a man so vain that he spent hours admiring himself in the mirror
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in futile
producing no results
all their efforts to escape proved vain
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in worthless
having no usefulness
having tired of the vain pleasures of life in the fast lane, he returned to the small town he had grown up in
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of vain
Foolish, vain, and petty Jasmine may be, but Blanchett managed to make her slow-motion downfall oddly emotional.
—
Tim Grierson, Vulture, 15 Mar. 2025
Sabalenka refused to let up in the second set, forcing Kartal to sprint around the court in a vain attempt to withstand the barrage and wrapping up the victory in a little over an hour.
—Staff and News Service Reports, Orange County Register, 13 Mar. 2025
This doesn’t mean these women are vain or superficial.
—Rebecca Lester, The Conversation, 12 Mar. 2025
There have been pure hammerings inflicted by a magisterial opponent, there have been vain attempts to keep the score down, there have been have-a-go failures and defensive mishaps.
—George Caulkin, The Athletic, 15 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vain
Tim Grierson, Vulture, 15 Mar. 2025
Sabalenka refused to let up in the second set, forcing Kartal to sprint around the court in a vain attempt to withstand the barrage and wrapping up the victory in a little over an hour.
—Staff and News Service Reports, Orange County Register, 13 Mar. 2025
This doesn’t mean these women are vain or superficial.
—Rebecca Lester, The Conversation, 12 Mar. 2025
There have been pure hammerings inflicted by a magisterial opponent, there have been vain attempts to keep the score down, there have been have-a-go failures and defensive mishaps.
—George Caulkin, The Athletic, 15 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for vain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vain
Adjective
-
Everyone’s relationship has, yes, seasons, and each couple weathers a few different ones during the show, with smug closeness eroding into terse bitterness, doting affection into resentful frustration.—
Margaret Lyons,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
-
Dissections of power and masculinity that once bristled with adversarial vitality evolved into arid dialectics and windy anecdotes pickled in smug cynicism and lacking in thematic clarity.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
These results, though significant, don’t necessarily mean that efforts to effectively mitigate deepfakes are futile.—
Mack DeGeurin,
Popular Science,
30 Apr. 2025
-
The similarly futile attempts to portray John Walker as a flawed but good man, despite his callous rage and murderous tendencies?—
Nola Pfau,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Eliminating these protections raises the bar for relief and could leave students stuck with debt for worthless credits.—
Shahar Ziv,
Forbes.com,
6 May 2025
-
The promise of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore the steep cuts to the World Trade Center Health Program was a worthless lie, betraying the heroes and victims of 9/11.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
6 May 2025
Adjective
-
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are proud of the state of stoner comedy.—
Angela Andaloro,
People.com,
3 May 2025
-
Now, Robinson is the proud owner of the S.S. Almond Branch, a roughly 330-foot-long cargo ship that sank during World War I.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
2 May 2025
Adjective
-
Each unsuccessful vote will be burned in a furnace with chemicals to dye the plume a black color.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
2 May 2025
-
During his unsuccessful 2022 congressional bid, Kent consulted with Nick Fuentes, the young white supremacist, and hired a campaign adviser who was a member of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group.—
Ali Breland,
The Atlantic,
1 May 2025
Adjective
-
Consumers have faced empty supermarket shelves and a nearly 90% surge in prices.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
8 May 2025
-
In recent years, K Street has stood out more for its empty storefronts and large number of homeless people than as a vibrant center for activity.—
Stephen Hobbs,
Sacbee.com,
8 May 2025
Adjective
-
The targets of Trump’s economic aggression will accept greater hardship to preserve their dignity than American voters will for the privilege of acting like arrogant menaces.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
29 Apr. 2025
-
This feud carries on today, with Hogan having called out Hart for being too arrogant.—
David Faris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
In one sense, Henry is the kind of useless man who creates hard times with his own passivity.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
30 Apr. 2025
-
Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin Like many a controversial Y2K trend, the useless hip belt has made its way back into the sartorial zeitgeist with trendsetters like Emily Ratajkowski and Dua Lipa reviving the aesthetic in recent seasons.—
Emily Tannenbaum,
Glamour,
24 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Vain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vain. Accessed 15 May. 2025.
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