futility
pronunciation
How to pronounce futility in British English:
UK [fju:'tɪlətɪ]
How to pronounce futility in American English:
US [fjuˈtɪlətɪ]
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- Noun:
- uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result
Word Origin
- futility (n.)
- 1620s, from French futilité or directly from Latin futilitatem (nominative futilitas) "worthlessness, emptiness, vanity," from futilis "vain, worthless" (see futile). Hence, jocular futilitarian (1827, n. and adj.); futilitarianism.
Example
- 1. Warnings of flood , famine , drought and mass extinction merge into an overwhelming sense of futility .
- 2. Stoppard ends his monumental play in 1868 , on a note of despair and futility and impending disaster .
- 3. Although bureaucrats still occasionally try to impose state controls on the city the futility of the effort quickly becomes apparent .
- 4. Havel later recalled that what struck him most about that august week was the futility of military power confronted by unarmed civilians .
- 5. As in the war museum , the moment is revelatory . It makes me realise with sudden clarity the futility of the whole us venture in vietnam .