fruitless
/'fru:tlis/
Definition
- Adjective:
- Unproductive of success; failing to achieve the desired results or any positive outcome: Describing efforts, attempts, or activities that do not lead to success or a useful result.
- Literally, not bearing fruit: In a botanical sense, describing a plant or tree that does not produce fruit. This meaning is less common in general usage.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- After a fruitless day of searching, they still hadn't found the missing keys.
- The negotiations proved fruitless, and the strike continued.
- All his fruitless attempts to fix the old computer only wasted more time.
Advanced Usage
- "to be fruitless": to be without useful result.
- The investigation was fruitless; no new evidence was discovered.
- "to render something fruitless": to cause something to be unsuccessful.
- The sudden rain rendered our plans for a picnic fruitless.
Variants and Related Words
- Fruitlessly (adverb): in a way that does not produce good results.
- They searched fruitlessly for a solution.
- Fruitlessness (noun): the quality or state of being fruitless.
- He was frustrated by the fruitlessness of the debate.
Synonyms
- Futile: incapable of producing any useful result; pointless.
- Vain: producing no result; useless.
- Unsuccessful: not achieving success.
- Unproductive: not producing or achieving a significant amount or result.
- Bootless (archaic/literary): (of a task or undertaking) ineffectual; useless.
Antonyms
- Fruitful: producing good or helpful results; productive.
- Successful: accomplishing a desired aim or result.
- Productive: achieving or producing a significant amount or result.
- Effective: successful in producing a desired or intended result.
Related Idioms and Phrases
- A wild goose chase: A futile search or pursuit; a hopeless enterprise. This idiom is conceptually similar to a fruitless endeavor.
- Looking for that old book in these shops is a wild goose chase.
- To beat one's head against a wall: To try repeatedly to do something with no success. This describes a fruitless effort.
- Trying to convince him is like beating my head against a wall.
Adjective
-
unproductive of success
-
a fruitless search
-
futile years after her artistic peak
-
a sleeveless errand
-
a vain attempt
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