useless

English

Etymology

From use +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːs.ləs/
• Rhymes: -uːsləs

Adjective

useless (comparative more useless or uselesser, superlative most useless or uselessest)

1. Without use or possibility to be used.

   This fork's prongs are bent. It's useless now.

   • 2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 53:

     I'm all for opening new stations (Transport Scotland is planning another at East Linton, about halfway between Drem and Dunbar), but they are useless without a decent service.

2. Unhelpful, not useful; pointless (of an action).

   I think it's useless to keep this discussion going. It's like talking to a brick wall.

   I tried my best to make him quit smoking, but my efforts were useless. He now smokes six packs a day.

3. (derogatory, of a person) Good-for-nothing; not dependable.

   Bill never mows the lawn, takes out the trash or anything. He's useless, but I love him anyways.

4. (colloquial, of a person) Unable to do well at a particular task or thing. Useless is mildly insulting.

   My brother is useless at most computer games, but he is an awesome PS2 player.

   Why do you keep trying? You're obviously useless at it.

Synonyms

• (good-for-nothing): good-for-nothing
• (unable to do well): unskillful

Antonyms

• skillful, useful

Derived terms

• uselessly
• uselessness

Translations

without use or possibility to be used

• Arabic: عَدِيمُ الْفَائِدَةِ‎ (ʿadīmu l-fāʾidati)
• Armenian: անօգուտ (hy) (anōgut), անպետք (hy) (anpetkʿ)
• Asturian: inútil
• Basque: baliogabe, ezgai, hutsal
• Belarusian: бескары́сны (be) (bjeskarýsny)
• Bulgarian: безполе́зен (bg) (bezpolézen)
• Catalan: inútil (ca)
• Cebuano: walay gamit
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 冇用 (mou⁵ jung⁶)

  Mandarin: 無用 (zh), 无用 (zh) (wúyòng)

• Czech: zbytečný (cs)
• Danish: nytteløs (da), ubrugelig (da)
• Dutch: nutteloos (nl), onbruikbaar (nl)
• Estonian: tarbetu
• Finnish: hyödytön (fi), tarpeeton (fi), turha (fi); kelvoton (fi), käyttökelvoton (fi)
• French: inutile (fr), inutilisable (fr)
• Galician: inútil
• Georgian: უსარგებლო (usargeblo)
• German: nutzlos (de), unnützlich, unnütz (de), wertlos (de), sinnlos (de)
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌿𐍄𐍃 (unnuts)
• Greek: άχρηστος (el) (áchristos)

  Ancient: ἀχρεῖος (akhreîos), ἄχρηστος (ákhrēstos)

• Hawaiian: waiwai ʻole, makehewa
• Hebrew: חֲסַר תוֹעֶלֶת‎ (ḥasar to'elet)
• Hindi: बेकार (hi) (bekār)
• Icelandic: gagnslaus
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} neutila (io)
• Indonesian: tidak berguna
• Interlingua: inusabile
• Irish: gan mhaith

• Italian: inutile (it)
• Japanese: 無用な (ja) (むような, muyō-na)
• Korean: 무용하다 (muyonghada), 쓸모가 없다 (sseulmoga eopda), 소용가 없다 (soyongga eopda)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بێ سوود‎ (bê sûd), بێ کەڵک‎ (bê kellk)

• Latin: inutilis
• Macedonian: некористен (nekoristen)
• Malay: tidak berguna
• Norman: innutile
• Norwegian: nytteløs, unyttig
• Occitan: inutil
• Old English: unnytt
• Pashto: بې کاره‎ (ps) (be kâra)
• Pitjantjatjara: ^{(please verify)} kura, ^{(please verify)} uṉa
• Plautdietsch: daugeniksich, nutzlooss
• Polish: niepotrzebny (pl), bezużyteczny (pl)
• Portuguese: inútil (pt), imprestável (pt)
• Romanian: inutil (ro), netrebuincios (ro), nefolositor (ro)
• Russian: бесполе́зный (ru) (bespoléznyj), нену́жный (ru) (nenúžnyj), (good-for-nothing) никчёмный (ru) (nikčómnyj)
• Sanskrit: विफल (sa) (viphala)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun fheum
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бескористан

  Roman: beskoristan (sh)

• Slovak: zbytočný
• Slovene: nekoristen
• Spanish: inútil (es)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: faydasız (tr)
• Ukrainian: некори́сний (nekorýsnyj)
• Urdu: بیکار‎ (bekār), فضول‎ (fazūl)
• Vietnamese: vô dụng (vi)
• Yiddish: אומניצלעך‎ (umnitslekh)

unhelpful, pointless

• Bulgarian: безсмислен (bg) (bezsmislen)
• Cebuano: walay gamit
• Danish: meningsløs
• Finnish: turha (fi)
• French: inutile (fr)
• German: sinnlos (de)
• Greek: μάταιος (el) (mátaios)
• Hawaiian: makehewa

• Indonesian: percuma (id), sia-sia (id)
• Italian: inutile (it)
• Latin: cassus
• Portuguese: inútil (pt)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìomhain
• Spanish: inútil (es)
• Thai: ไม่มีประโยชน์

good-for-nothing, not dependable

• Bulgarian: негоден (bg) (negoden)
• Cebuano: walay gamit
• Dutch: waardeloos (nl)
• Finnish: hyödytön (fi)
• French: bon à rien (fr)

• German: unnütz (de)
• Indonesian: brengsek (id)
• Italian: inutile (it), buono a nulla
• Portuguese: inútil (pt), imprestável (pt)

unable to do well

• Catalan: inútil (ca)
• Cebuano: bala, banga
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 冇鬼用

• Danish: unyttig
• Finnish: onneton (fi), kelvoton (fi)
• German: unnütz (de)
• Greek: άχρηστος (el) (áchristos)
• Indonesian: payah (id)
• Italian: negato (it)
• Japanese: 下手 (な) (へた (な), heta (na))

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بێ کەڵک‎ (bê kellk), ھیچوپوچ‎ (hîçupuç)

• Norwegian: unyttig

  Bokmål: ubrukelig

• Pashto: بې کاره‎ (ps) (be kâra)
• Portuguese: péssimo (pt)
• Russian: бесполе́зный (ru) (bespoléznyj), (good-for-nothing) никчёмный (ru) (nikčómnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: gun fheum
• Spanish: inútil (es), negado (es)