useless
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- worthless, fruitless, futile, impractical, ineffectual, pointless, unproductive, vain, valueless
- inept, hopeless, incompetent, ineffectual, no good

---

Antonyms: useful

---

English Thesaurus: pointless, futile, useless, hopeless, be a waste of time/money/effort, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

use‧less /ˈjuːsləs/ adjective
[Word Family: noun: usage, use, disuse, misuse, reuse, usefulness ≠ uselessness, user; adjective: reusable, used ≠ unused, disused, useful ≠ useless, usable ≠ unusable; verb: use, misuse, reuse; adverb: usefully ≠ uselessly]

1. not useful or effective in any way Antonym : useful:
The doctor concluded that further treatment would be useless.
a website full of useless information
virtually/completely/totally etc useless
Water had got into the radio, and now it was completely useless.
useless for
The land is useless for growing crops.
it is useless to do something
It was useless to complain.
worse than useless (=not useful and in fact causing harm or problems)
The map was so out-of-date it was worse than useless.

2. informal unable or unwilling to do anything properly:
Don’t ask Tim to fix it. He’s completely useless.
—uselessly adverb
—uselessness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

useless
adj.
I. of no use
VERBS be, feel, prove Her efforts to avoid him proved useless.
become | leave sth, make sth, render sth The condition rendered her legs virtually useless.
reject sth as They rejected the designs as useless.
ADV. bloody (taboo)
absolutely, completely, entirely, quite, totally, utterly, wholly | worse than A computer program with too many icons is worse than useless.
all but, almost, practically, virtually | largely | fairly, pretty | equally There are two manuals, both of them equally useless.
PREP. as A candle is practically useless as a light source.
for The land is useless for cattle.
in This drug is useless in the treatment of patients with Aids.
to The information was useless to him.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

useless
II. weak/not successful
VERBS be
ADV. bloody (taboo)
completely | pretty
PREP. at I'm pretty useless at this job.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

useless

completely/totally/absolutely useless
The treatment is completely useless.
wholly/entirely useless
From his point of view qualifications are wholly useless.
virtually/almost/practically useless
These flaws could make the software virtually useless in a business environment.
quite useless British English (=completely useless)
The vehicle proved quite useless on rocky ground.
pretty/fairly useless
The book is pretty useless for today's students.
render something useless
She has a debilitating condition which renders her legs virtually useless.
make something useless
Salt water flooded into the land making it useless for farming.
prove useless
Police checkpoints proved useless at stopping the suicide bombers.
worse than useless (=not useful, and causing harm or problems)
It would be worse than useless to try and complain about him.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

useless
adjective
1.
BAD: In garage sales people get rid of their useless things.
GOOD: In garage sales people get rid of the things they don't use.

Usage Note:
If something is useless it is not useful: 'These scissors are useless - they don't even cut paper.' 'The report contains a lot of useless information.'

---

2.
BAD: I don't like history because I think it's useless for me.
GOOD: I don't like history because I think it's of no use to me.
BAD: Why do we have to learn useless words?
GOOD: Why do we have to learn words that are of no use?

Usage Note:
If something does not help you to do what you want to do, it is (of) no use (to you) : 'I use my computer for writing and so a typewriter is of no use to me.' 'This map's no use - it doesn't show the minor roads.'

---

3.
BAD: Staying in a big hotel would involve useless expense.
GOOD: Staying in a big hotel would involve unnecessary expense.
DUBIOUS: Without all this useless packaging, food would be cheaper.
GOOD: Without all this unnecessary packaging, food would be cheaper.

Usage Note:
If something is not necessary, it is unnecessary (NOT useless ): 'People who refuse to stop smoking are taking an unnecessary risk.' 'Sports that cause animals unnecessary suffering should be banned.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

pointless not likely to have a useful result:
She knew it would be pointless to argue with him.
The meeting was a pointless exercise.
futile completely pointless because there is no chance at all of being successful:
She shut the door in a futile attempt to keep the smell out.
Their efforts proved futile (=did not have any success).
useless not useful or effective in any way:
I knew it was useless to try to explain to him what had happened.
The map we had been given was useless.
hopeless having no hope of being successful or effective:
It was a hopeless task.
He was jumping up and down in a hopeless attempt to keep warm.
be a waste of time/money/effort to be not worth the time, money etc that you use because you do not achieve anything:
The whole process was a complete waste of time.
The scheme was a waste of money.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲