futile

English

Etymology

From Latin fūtilis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfjuː.taɪ.əl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈfju.taɪ.əl/, /ˈfju.təl/
• Rhymes: -uːtəl (US)

Adjective

futile (comparative more futile, superlative most futile)

1. Incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.
   • 2011 December 15, Marc Higginson, “Shamrock Rovers 0 - 4 Tottenham”, 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

• ineffectual
• unavailing
• vain
• idle
• fruitless
• See also Wikisaurus:futile

Antonyms

• effectual
• effective

Related terms

• futility
• futilitarian

Translations

incapable of producing results

• Arabic: عَقيم (ar) (ʿaqīm)
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: fútil (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎤᏚᎩᏄᏛᎾ (chr) (uduginudvna)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無用 (cmn), 无用 (cmn) (wúyòng), 枉然 (cmn) (wǎngrán), 無益 (cmn), 无益 (cmn) (wúyì)

• Czech: jalový (cs)
• Danish: nytteløs (da)
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: nutteloos (nl)
• Faroese: nyttuleysur (fo)
• Finnish: turha (fi), tulokseton (fi), toivoton (fi)
• French: futile (fr)
• Galician: fútil (gl)
• Georgian: ფუჭი (ka) ('pu'tchi)
• German: sinnlos (de), vergeblich (de)
• Greek: μάταιος (el) (mátaios)

• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• 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)
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: chʼééh
• Occitan: futil (oc)
• Persian: عبث (fa), بى فايده (fa), پوچ (fa) (puč)
• Polish: daremny (pl) m
• Portuguese: fútil (pt)
• Russian: бесполезный (ru) (bespoléznyj), тщетный (ru) (tščétnyj), бесплодный (ru) (besplódnyj), напрасный (ru) (naprásnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìomhain (gd), faoin (gd)
• Slovak: márny (sk), zbytočný (sk), nepatrný (sk)
• Spanish: inútil (es), fútil (es)
• Swedish: meningslös (sv), lönlös (sv), fåfäng (sv)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

futile (masculine and feminine, plural futiles)

1. futile

Related terms

• futilité

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Italian

Adjective

futile m and f (m and f plural futili)

1. futile

Related terms

• futilità

Anagrams

• fluite

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Latin

Adjective

fūtile

1. nominative neuter singular of fūtilis
2. accusative neuter singular of fūtilis
3. vocative neuter singular of fūtilis