meaningless

/'mi:niɳfulnis/

Thân thiện

A child stares at a page of meaningless scribbles.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Having no meaning, significance, or purpose: Describes something that lacks sense, importance, or a clear reason for existing.
   • Ineffective or pointless: Describes an action, effort, or statement that fails to achieve anything or convey any useful information.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The ancient symbols were meaningless to the untrained eye. (They held no understandable significance.)
  • He felt trapped in a meaningless job that offered no satisfaction. (The job lacked purpose or value.)
  • After the argument, her apology seemed empty and meaningless. (The apology appeared insincere and without real intent.)

Advanced Usage

• Philosophical/Existential Context: Used to describe a perceived absence of purpose in life, the universe, or actions.
  • Some philosophers argue that, in a vast cosmos, human life is ultimately meaningless.
• Linguistic Context: Describes a word, sound, or string of characters that conveys no semantic content.
  • The string of letters "asdfgh" is a meaningless sequence in English.

Variants and Related Words

• Meaninglessly (adverb): In a manner lacking meaning or purpose.
  • He wandered meaninglessly through the empty streets.
• Meaninglessness (noun): The state or quality of being meaningless.
  • The meaninglessness of the bureaucratic process frustrated everyone.

Synonyms

• Nonsensical: Having no intelligible meaning; absurd.
• Pointless: Having little or no sense, use, or purpose.
• Futile: Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless.
• Vacuous: Lacking in ideas or intelligence; empty of meaning.

Antonyms

• Meaningful: Having a serious, important, or useful quality or purpose.
• Significant: Sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention.
• Purposeful: Having or showing determination or resolve.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• A meaningless gesture: An action that is done but has no real effect or sincerity.
  • Promising change without a plan is just a meaningless gesture.
• Render something meaningless: To cause something to lose its significance or purpose.
  • The new evidence rendered the previous theory meaningless.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. having no meaning or direction or purpose
   • a meaningless endeavor
   • a meaningless life
   • a verbose but meaningless explanation

Từ đồng nghĩa

• nonmeaningful