USELESSNESS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does uselessness mean? 

• USELESSNESS (noun)
  The noun USELESSNESS has 1 sense:

1. the quality of having no practical use

  Familiarity information: USELESSNESS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• USELESSNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of having no practical use

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

inutility; unusefulness; uselessness

Hypernyms ("uselessness" is a kind of...):

quality (an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "uselessness"):

futility (uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result)

worthlessness (the quality of being without practical use)

impracticality (concerned with theoretical possibilities rather than actual use)

impracticability; impracticableness (the quality of not being usable)

Antonym:

usefulness (the quality of being of practical use)

Derivation:

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

 Context examples 

The cellar, indeed, was filled with crazy lumber, mostly dating from the times of the surgeon who was Jekyll’s predecessor; but even as they opened the door they were advertised of the uselessness of further search, by the fall of a perfect mat of cobweb which had for years sealed up the entrance.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)