fruitless

adj
/ˈfɹuːtləs/UK/ˈfɹutləs/CA/ˈfɹʉːtləs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English fruytles; equivalent to fruit + -less. Compare Middle English withouten fruyt (“fruitless”, literally “without fruit”).

  1. inherited from fruytles

Definitions

  1. Bearing no fruit

    Bearing no fruit; barren.

  2. Unproductive, useless.

    • The unskilled man’s attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless.
    • Here alſo ſprong that goodly golden fruit, / With which Acontius got his louer trew, / Whom he had long time ſought with fruitleſſe ſuit; […]
  3. Of a person

    Of a person: unable to have children; barren, infertile.

    • The fruitless woman desperately wanted to have children.
  4. + 1 more definition
    1. Of a diet, etc.

      Of a diet, etc.: without fruit.

      • The first fruits of the season were eagerly sought after, and everybody was thankful that once more dread winter with its unvarying monotony of fruitless meals was a thing of the past.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at fruitless. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01fruitless02barren03bear04uncouth05clumsy06inefficient07unproductive

A definitional loop anchored at fruitless. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at fruitless

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA