meaninglessness
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: 1. The quality or state of being without meaning, purpose, or significance. It refers to something that lacks sense, value, or a coherent message. 2. A message, statement, or thing that conveys no intelligible idea or appears to be nonsensical.
Examples
- The meaninglessness of the repetitive data-entry job led to high employee turnover.
- Philosophers sometimes contemplate the potential meaninglessness of existence.
- After the accident, he was haunted by a feeling of meaninglessness in his daily routines.
- The document was filled with jargon and meaninglessness, making it impossible to understand.
Advanced Usage
- Existential Meaninglessness: A philosophical concept concerning the absence of inherent purpose in life or the universe.
- The novel explores themes of existential meaninglessness and the human search for purpose.
- Semantic Meaninglessness: In linguistics and philosophy, a statement that is nonsensical or fails to correspond to any logical or verifiable fact.
- The sentence "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" is a classic example of semantic meaninglessness.
Variants and Related Words
- Meaningless (adjective): Having no meaning or significance.
- He gave a meaningless apology just to end the argument.
- Nonsense (noun): Spoken or written words that have no meaning or make no sense. (Often implies foolishness or absurdity, whereas "meaninglessness" can be a more neutral or philosophical quality.)
- Absurdity (noun): The quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable. (Often overlaps with meaninglessness in existential contexts.)
Synonyms
- Pointlessness
- Futility
- Senselessness
- Emptiness
- Vacuity
Antonyms
- Meaningfulness
- Significance
- Importance
- Purposefulness
- Sense
Related Idioms and Phrases
- A exercise in futility/meaninglessness: An activity that is completely pointless and yields no result.
- Arguing with him is an exercise in futility.
- To be devoid of meaning: To completely lack meaning or significance.
- The ritual had become devoid of its original meaning.
Noun
- the quality of having no value or significance
- he resented the meaninglessness of the tasks they assigned him
- a message that seems to convey no meaning