futile

futile

English

Etymology

From Middle French futile, from Latin fūtilis. Doublet of god.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfjuː.taɪl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfju.taɪl/, /ˈfju.təl/
• Rhymes: -uːtəl (US)

Adjective

futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)

1. Incapable of producing results; doomed not to be successful; not worth attempting.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., OCLC 222716698, page 46:

     No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or […] . And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.

   • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828:

     There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.

   • 2011 December 15, Marc Higginson, “Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport:

     Goals from Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend, Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane sealed the win, but Rubin Kazan's 1-1 draw against PAOK Salonika rendered Spurs' efforts futile.

Synonyms

• useless, see also Thesaurus:futile

Antonyms

• effectual
• effective
• fruitful

Related terms

• futility
• futilitarian

Translations

incapable of producing results

Arabic: عَقِيم‎ (ʿaqīm) Armenian: իզուր (hy) (izur), զուր (hy) (zur), ապարդյուն (hy) (apardyun) Belarusian: бескары́сны (be) (bjeskarýsny), дарэ́мны (be) (darémny) Bulgarian: безполе́зен (bg) (bezpolézen), напра́зен (bg) (naprázen), безуспе́шен (bg) (bezuspéšen) Burmese: အချည်းနှီးဖြစ်သေ (a.hkyany:hni:hpracse), အလဟဿဖြစ်သော (a.la.ha.ssa.hpracsau:) Catalan: fútil (ca) Cherokee: ᎤᏚᎩᏄᏛᎾ (uduginudvna) Chinese: Mandarin: 無用／无用 (zh) (wúyòng), 枉然 (zh) (wǎngrán), 無益／无益 (zh) (wúyì) Czech: jalový (cs) Danish: nytteløs (da) Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can Dutch: nutteloos (nl), tevergeefs (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Estonian: kasutu, tulutu Faroese: nyttuleysur Finnish: turha (fi), tulokseton (fi), toivoton (fi); katteeton (fi) (of a promise) French: futile (fr) Galician: fútil (gl) Georgian: ფუჭი (puč̣i), ამაო (amao) German: sinnlos (de), vergeblich (de) Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌺𐍃 (halks) Greek: μάταιος (el) (mátaios) Ancient: μάταιος (mátaios) Hindi: फ़ज़ूल (fazūl), अकारथ (hi) (akārath) Ido: vana (io) Italian: futile (it) Japanese: 無用 (ja) (むよう, muyō), 無駄 (ja) (むだ, muda), 無益 (ja) (むえき, mueki) Khmer: អសារ (km) (a’saa) Latin: futilis, cassus Malay: sia-sia (ms) Maori: mūhore, papakore, huakore Mirandese: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Navajo: chʼééh Norwegian: Bokmål: nytteløs, nyttelaus Nynorsk: nyttelaus Occitan: futil Persian: عبث‎ (fa), بی فایده‎ (fa), پوچ‎ (fa) (puč) Polish: daremny (pl) m, bezcelowy (pl) Portuguese: fútil (pt) Russian: бесполе́зный (ru) (bespoléznyj), тще́тный (ru) (tščétnyj), беспло́дный (ru) (besplódnyj), напра́сный (ru) (naprásnyj) Scottish Gaelic: dìomhain, faoin Slovak: márny (sk), zbytočný, nepatrný Spanish: inútil (es), vano (es) Swedish: meningslös (sv), lönlös (sv), fåfäng (sv) Thai: เปล่าประโยชน์ Turkish: beyhude (tr), boş (tr), nafile (tr) Ukrainian: некори́сний (nekorýsnyj), даре́мний (darémnyj) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Volapük: please add this translation if you can

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fūtilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fy.til/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -il

Adjective

futile (plural futiles)

1. futile

Related terms

• futilité

Further reading

• “futile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Italian

Etymology

From Latin fūtilis (“futile, worthless”, literally “that easily pours out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfu.ti.le/
• Rhymes: -utile
• Hyphenation: fù‧ti‧le

Adjective

futile (plural futili)

1. futile, frivolous, worthless

Derived terms

• futilmente

Related terms

• futilità

Further reading

• futile in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• fluite

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Latin

Alternative forms

• futtile

Adverb

fūtile (not comparable)

1. in vain

Synonyms

• frustrā
• in cassum

Adjective

fūtile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of fūtilis

References

• “futile”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “futile”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• futile in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette