6 uses
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Definition
effort that is pointless because it is unproductive or unsuccessful
- In college he had felt that prosody and Latin Composition were futile, and he had looked forward to the study of medicine as illumination.Chapter 3 (7% in)
- But in this young man there was none of the heaviness of workers dragged out of bed at dawn for another gray and futile day of labor.Chapter 10 (55% in)
- Time bent back, progress was annihilated, and he was mazed with futility.Chapter 24 (68% in)
- Thus with Sondelius, though for Martin there were as yet but embarrassment and futility and the fear of fear.Chapter 33 (**% in)
- He went to the Ice House; he had a drink with a frightened clerk from Derbyshire; he regained the picture of Gottlieb's sunken, demanding eyes; and he swore that he would not yield to a compassion which in the end would make all compassion futile.Chapter 34 (12% in)
- I wish I could make you see just how weak and futile that is.Chapter 40 (37% in)
There are no more uses of "futile" in Arrowsmith.
Typical Usage
(best examples)