VAINLY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does vainly mean? 

• VAINLY (adverb)
  The adverb VAINLY has 1 sense:

1. to no avail

  Familiarity information: VAINLY used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VAINLY (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

To no avail

Synonyms:

in vain; vainly

Context example:

the city fathers tried vainly to find a solution

Pertainym:

vain (unproductive of success)

 Context examples 

Mr. Rochester now tried to walk about: vainly,—all was too uncertain.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I had come down to the deck, and I saw Horner and Kerfoot vainly protest against the attempt.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She tried to stop him; but vainly; he would go on, and say it all.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Vainly he asked: Where are the great souls, the great men and women?

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Very agreeable indeed,” she replied, vainly endeavouring to hide a great yawn.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I struggled vainly for firmness sufficient to answer him, but the effort destroyed all my remaining strength; I sank on the chair and sobbed aloud.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There he wandered for a week, seeking vainly for fresh sign of the wild brother, killing his meat as he travelled and travelling with the long, easy lope that seems never to tire.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Some blind reasons that I had for not returning home—reasons then struggling within me, vainly, for more distinct expression—kept me on my pilgrimage.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He looked into every pool of water vainly, until, as the long twilight came on, he discovered a solitary fish, the size of a minnow, in such a pool.

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

During the period that he waited vainly for his mother to come back, he led the pack many a wild chase through the adjacent woods.

(White Fang, by Jack London)