All 4 Uses of
futile
in
Howards End
- But it was more than usually futile.†
Part 3
- As she trod the staircase, narrow, but carpeted thickly, as she entered the eating-room, where saddles of mutton were being trundled up to expectant clergymen, she had a strong, if erroneous, conviction of her own futility, and wished she had never come out of her backwater, where nothing happened except art and literature, and where no one ever got married or succeeded in remaining engaged.†
Part 17futility = pointlessness (uselessness)
- He was an elderly man now, and it would be futile and impudent to correct him.†
Part 18 *
- In a long letter she pointed out the need of charity in sexual matters; so little is known about them; it is hard enough for those who are personally touched to judge; then how futile must be the verdict of Society.†
Part 31
Definition:
effort that is pointless because it is unproductive or unsuccessful