INEFFECTUAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ineffectual mean? 

• INEFFECTUAL (adjective)
  The adjective INEFFECTUAL has 3 senses:

1. not producing an intended effect

2. producing no result or effect

3. lacking in power or forcefulness

  Familiarity information: INEFFECTUAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INEFFECTUAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not producing an intended effect

Synonyms:

ineffective; ineffectual; uneffective

Context example:

ineffective legislation

Similar:

toothless (lacking necessary force for effectiveness)

unproductive (not producing desired results)

Also:

idle (not in action or at work)

inefficacious (lacking the power to produce a desired effect)

inefficient (not producing desired results; wasteful)

powerless (lacking power)

useless (having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully)

Attribute:

effectiveness; effectivity; effectuality; effectualness (power to be effective; the quality of being able to bring about an effect)

Derivation:

ineffectuality; ineffectualness (lacking the power to be effective)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Producing no result or effect

Synonyms:

futile; ineffectual; meaningless; otiose; unavailing

Context example:

an unavailing attempt

Similar:

useless (having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully)

Derivation:

ineffectuality; ineffectualness (lacking the power to be effective)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Lacking in power or forcefulness

Synonyms:

ineffective; ineffectual; unable

Context example:

like an unable phoenix in hot ashes

Similar:

impotent (lacking power or ability)

Derivation:

ineffectuality; ineffectualness (lacking the power to be effective)

 Context examples 

It was a strong effort of the spirit of good, but it was ineffectual.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Mrs. Bennet's schemes for this day were ineffectual.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Most of its efforts were ineffectual, but it was persistent, and it writhed and twisted and went ahead perhaps a score of feet an hour.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

White Fang made several ineffectual efforts to get up.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Truth is truth, and nothing which you can report can affect it in any way, though it may excite the emotions and allay the curiosity of a number of very ineffectual people.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He coughed to that extent, and his breath eluded all his attempts to recover it with that obstinacy, that I fully expected to see his head go down behind the counter, and his little black breeches, with the rusty little bunches of ribbons at the knees, come quivering up in a last ineffectual struggle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She still screamed and sobbed lustily, kicked her two brothers for offering to touch her, and all their united soothings were ineffectual till Lady Middleton luckily remembering that in a scene of similar distress last week, some apricot marmalade had been successfully applied for a bruised temple, the same remedy was eagerly proposed for this unfortunate scratch, and a slight intermission of screams in the young lady on hearing it, gave them reason to hope that it would not be rejected.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

For some time her young friend felt obliged to her for these wishes; but they were repeated so often, and proved so totally ineffectual, that Catherine grew tired at last, and would thank her no more.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I had, again and again, held the water to Mason's white lips; again and again offered him the stimulating salts: my efforts seemed ineffectual: either bodily or mental suffering, or loss of blood, or all three combined, were fast prostrating his strength.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Thus not the tenderness of friendship, nor the beauty of earth, nor of heaven, could redeem my soul from woe; the very accents of love were ineffectual.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)