USELESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does useless mean? 

• USELESS (adjective)
  The adjective USELESS has 1 sense:

1. having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully

  Familiarity information: USELESS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• USELESS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully

Context example:

she is useless in an emergency

Similar:

futile; ineffectual; meaningless; otiose; unavailing (producing no result or effect)

inutile (not worth using)

unserviceable; unusable; unuseable (not capable of being used)

Also:

ineffective; ineffectual; uneffective (not producing an intended effect)

unprofitable (producing little or no profit or gain)

unserviceable (not ready for service)

Attribute:

usefulness; utility (the quality of being of practical use)

Antonym:

useful (being of use or service)

Derivation:

uselessness (the quality of having no practical use)

 Context examples 

Why was it useless to try to win any one's favour?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

We all knew that the time when she could speak was passing; but we felt that it was useless to say anything.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“Captain,” said I, “Trelawney is the dead shot. Give him your gun; his own is useless.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My useless fowling-piece was in my hand.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She now observed to me, aloud, resuming her former restraint, that it was useless to hear more, or to say more, and that she begged to put an end to the interview.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Besides, it is a useless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An iron that stood the ordinary test of a wet finger was too cold for Joe and Martin, and such test was useless.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Functional Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (FAMS) Emotional Well-Being: I feel useless.

(FAMS - I Feel Useless, NCI Thesaurus)

Come, come, madam, it is useless.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)