What is another word for useless?
Synonyms for useless
ˈyus lɪsuse·less
This thesaurus page includes all potential synonyms, words with the same meaning and similar terms for the word useless.
Wiktionary
uselessadjective
uselessadjective
This fork has prongs that are bent. It's useless now.
uselessadjective
uselessadjective
good-for-nothing; not dependable.
Bill never mows the lawn, takes out the trash or anything. He's useless, but I love him anyways.
Synonyms:
good-for-nothinguselessadjective
unable to do well at a particular task or thing. Useless is mildly insulting.
Synonyms:
unskillful
English Synonyms and Antonyms
useless
Vain (Latin vanus, empty) keeps the etymological idea through all changes of meaning; a vain endeavor is empty of result, or of adequate power to produce a result, a vain pretension is empty or destitute of support, a vain person has a conceit that is empty or destitute of adequate cause or reason. That which is bootless, fruitless, or profitless fails to accomplish any valuable result; that which is abortive, ineffectual, or unavailing fails to accomplish a result that it was, or was supposed to be, adapted to accomplish. That which is useless, futile, or vain is inherently incapable of accomplishing a specified result. Useless, in the widest sense, signifies not of use for any valuable purpose, and is thus closely similar to valueless and worthless. Fruitless is more final than ineffectual, as applying to the sum or harvest of endeavor. That which is useless lacks actual fitness for a purpose; that which is vain lacks imaginable fitness. Compare VACANT; OSTENTATION; PRIDE.
Compare synonyms for UTILITY.
Synonyms:
abortive, baseless, bootless, deceitful, delusive, empty, fruitless, futile, idle, inconstant, ineffectual, nugatory, null, profitless, shadowy, trifling, trivial, unavailing, unimportant, unprofitable, unreal, unsatisfying, unserviceable, unsubstantial, vain, vapid, visionary, worthlessAntonyms:
adequate, advantageous, beneficial, competent, effective, efficient, expedient, potent, powerful, profitable, real, serviceable, solid, sound, substantial, sufficient, useful, valid, valuable, worthy
Princeton's WordNet
uselessadjective
having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully
"a kitchen full of useless gadgets"; "she is useless in an emergency"
Antonyms:
useful, recyclable, utilizable, reusable, utile, utilitarian, useable, serviceable, usable, reclaimable, multipurpose
Dictionary of English Synonymes
uselessadjective
Synonyms:
unavailing, fruitless, bootless, profitless, unprofitable, unserviceable, valueless, worthless, futile, abortive, null, nugatory, of no use
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
uselessadjective
Synonyms:
unserviceable, futile, worthless, unavailing, bootless, ineffectual, null, nugatory, abortive
PPDB, the paraphrase database
List of paraphrases for "useless":
pointless, unnecessary, futile, worthless, unhelpful, needless, unusable, meaningless, unserviceable, fruitless, superfluous, vain, good-for-nothing, ineffective, senseless, ineffectual, wasteful
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#2578 | null | |
#2964 | empty | |
#9013 | idle | |
#9462 | unnecessary | |
#10226 | useless | |
#12556 | trivial | |
#13230 | unreal | |
#15690 | vain | |
#17218 | ineffective | |
#17350 | needless | |
#18270 | pointless | |
#19590 | visionary | |
#19887 | meaningless | |
#20769 | worthless | |
#24369 | unhelpful | |
#26975 | futile | |
#32026 | unimportant | |
#35057 | senseless | |
#35182 | unusable | |
#35699 | superfluous | |
#38056 | wasteful | |
#38689 | shadowy | |
#48116 | fruitless | |
#55524 | deceitful | |
#55539 | unprofitable | |
#60134 | baseless | |
#61666 | ineffectual | |
#69037 | trifling | |
#72180 | abortive | |
#90731 | unsatisfying | |
#94014 | vapid | |
#109464 | unavailing | |
#131299 | unserviceable | |
#146779 | inconstant | |
#203636 | delusive | |
#226052 | unskillful | |
#244598 | unsubstantial | |
#245515 | nugatory | |
#291737 | profitless |
How to use useless in a sentence?
Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
My first few weeks in America are always miserable, because the tastes I am cursed with are all of a kind that cannot be gratified here, and I am not enough in sympathy with our gross public to make up for the lack on the aesthetic side. One's friends are delightful; but we are none of us Americans, we don't think or feel as the Americans do, we are the wretched exotics produced in a European glass-house, the most displaced and useless class on earth!
Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the preface:
All art is quite useless.
Only useless things are indispensable.
Every step is painful, it feels like walking on sharp rocks— it’s really hard. I feel helpless and useless.
Translations for useless
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- عديم الفائدةArabic
- безполезенBulgarian
- inútilCatalan, Valencian
- zbytečný, k ničemuCzech
- ubrugeligDanish
- sinnlos, wertlos, nutzlos, unnütz, unnützlichGerman
- μάταιος, άχρηστοςGreek
- inútilSpanish
- tarbetuEstonian
- hutsal, baliogabe, ezgaiBasque
- kelvoton, hyödytön, turha, onneton, tarpeeton, käyttökelvotonFinnish
- inutile, inutilisableFrench
- gan mhaithIrish
- gun fheumScottish Gaelic
- inútilGalician
- חֲסַר תוֹעֶלֶתHebrew
- बेकार, निकम्माHindi
- inusabileInterlingua
- gagnslausIcelandic
- inutileItalian
- 役に立たない, 無用Japanese
- უსარგებლოGeorgian
- inutilisLatin
- onbruikbaar, nutteloosDutch
- ubrukelig, unyttig, nytteløstNorwegian
- niepotrzebny, bezużytecznyPolish
- بې کارهPashto, Pushto
- inútilPortuguese
- inutil, netrebuincios, nefolositorRomanian
- никчёмный, ненужный, бесполезныйRussian
- zbytočný, nanič, nahovnoSlovak
- بیکارUrdu
Get even more translations for useless »
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