futility

noun
/fjuːˈtɪlɪti/UK/fjuˈtɪləti/US

Etymology

From Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”). By surface analysis, futile + -ity.

  1. borrowed from fūtilitās

Definitions

  1. The quality of being futile or useless.

    • an exercise of futility
    • His taking the bar exam for a third time was pure futility.
    • “Has my dad come?” he asked. “You can see he hasn’t,” said Mrs. Morel, cross with the futility of the question.
  2. Something, especially an act, that is futile.

    • But fashion and authority apart, and bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him, his sophisms, futilities, and incomprehensibilities, and what remains?
  3. Unimportance.

    • Her empty chatter, her futility, her childish coquetry and frivolity—such light wares could hardly be the whole substance of any woman’s being; […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for futility. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

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