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, 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:

     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 (ʕaqīm)
• 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

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.

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

Latin

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

• futtile

Adverb

fūtile (not comparable)

1. in vain

Synonyms

• frustrā
• in cassum

Etymology 2

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