Futile

Examples

• Speculation is futile, said Professor Porter sadly. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
• In fact he could do nothing but make a wild and futile attempt to dislodge me. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
• To read were futile--to write, vanity indeed. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
• The active life to which he had been born and bred had given him something else to do than to join the futile chase of the pleasure-hunter. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• We pass on now to the story of one futile commencement, one glorious shattered beginning of human unity. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• No trace of her have we found, and I fear that it be a futile quest. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
• Unless we win, all other things are futile. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
• Already, however, it had been urged that Sturgeon's magnet could be used for telegraphic purposes, and a futile trial was made. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
• It is only against the weak affectation and futile pomposity of a would-be aristocrat they turn mutinous. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• We can imagine something of the coming and going of messengers, the issuing of futile orders, the changes of plan, throughout the day. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• It has been the practice of recent writers to decry the philosophical discussion of the medi?val schoolmen as tedious and futile. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• He gathered diets and councils in futile attempts at reconciliation. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• Her rosy blondness had survived some forty years of futile activity without showing much trace of ill-usage except in a diminished play of feature. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
• There was a brief and futile effort of defence. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
• But without knowledge of it that progress will be checkered and perhaps futile. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• The hammer fell with a futile click upon an empty chamber. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
• It is consequently futile to set up even the ulterior development of faculties of observation, memory, etc. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
• I suggested in an earlier chapter that the issue of honesty and dishonesty was a futile one, and I placed faith in the creative men. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• Political action becomes a petty, futile, mean little intrusion when its only method is prosecution. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• To shut the door in the face of such a current of feeling because it is occasionally exasperated into violence would be as futile as locking up children because they get into mischief. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• With the belief that government is futile and mischievous unless supported by the mass of the people; with the undeniable fact that business has corrupted public officials--I have no complaint. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
• The history of the next fifteen years is the story of the most brilliant and futile raid in history. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• Much has been devoted to the futile efforts of unsuccessful business competition. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• It is futile to attempt to arrange them in an order, beginning with one having least worth and going on to that of maximum value. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
• The day after this, he stayed at home--it seemed so futile to go down to the office. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• It was a depressing sight, marking such titanic but futile struggles with nature. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
• These struggles with the natural character, the strong native bent of the heart, may seem futile and fruitless, but in the end they do good. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.

Editor: Solomon