Synonyms for fruitless
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Futile — unproductive, useless
futile, vain, useless, unproductive, unavailing, ineffectual, unfruitful, unsuccessful, pointless, unprofitable, barren, ineffective, worthless, idle, sterile, no-good, tired, poor, bootless, infertile, dry, masturbatory
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Unproductive, useless.
The unskilled man’s attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless.
Related words
- Word family
- fruitlessly fruitlessness
Choose the right word
That which is bootless, fruitless, or profitless fails to accomplish any valuable result; that which is abortive, ineffectual, or unavailing fails to accomplish a result that it was, or was supposed to be, adapted to accomplish.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- useless There's nothing in here but a lot of useless junk.
- futile When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
- unproductive The meeting ended up being futile and unproductive.
- unavailing All efforts have been unavailing.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| fruitless | steady | |
| useless | steady | |
| futile | steady | |
| unproductive | steady | |
| unavailing | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- dry1
- 4 letters
- poor1, vain1, idle2
- 5 letters
- tired2
- 6 letters
- futile2, barren2
- 7 letters
- useless2, sterile2
- 8 letters
- bootless
- 9 letters
- pointless2, worthless2, infertile3
- 10 letters
- unfruitful, unavailing4
- 11 letters
- ineffective4, ineffectual5
- 12 letters
- unsuccessful4, unproductive4, unprofitable5, masturbatory
- 13 letters
- infrugiferous
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (idle2 = 2 syllables).