Ineffective
[ɪnɪ'fektɪv] or [,ɪnɪ'fɛktɪv]
Definition
(adj.) lacking the ability or skill to perform effectively; inadequate; 'an ineffective administration'; 'inefficient workers' .
(adj.) not producing an intended effect; 'an ineffective teacher'; 'ineffective legislation' .
(adj.) lacking in power or forcefulness; 'an ineffectual ruler'; 'like an unable phoenix in hot ashes' .
Checker: Truman--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Not effective; ineffectual; futile; inefficient; useless; as, an ineffective appeal.
Edited by Dinah
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Ineffectual, inefficacious.
Typed by Humphrey
Definition
adj. not effective: useless.—adv. Ineffec′tively.—adj. Ineffec′tual fruitless.—ns. Ineffectual′ity Ineffec′tualness.—adv. Ineffec′tually.—adj. Inefficā′cious not having power to produce an effect.—adv. Inefficā′ciously.—n. Inef′ficacy want of efficacy.—n. Ineffic′iency.—adj. Ineffic′ient effecting or capable of effecting nothing.—adv. Ineffic′iently.
Typist: Ralph
Examples
- We have seen the Roman Republic wrecked, and here we see the church failing in its world mission very largely through ineffective electoral methods. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But the fact that the stop-valve had to be opened and closed by hand to obtain the desired number of lifts rendered the machine ineffective. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- An ideal suspended in a vacuum is ineffective: it must point a dynamic current. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- With all his learning he is ineffective because, instead of trying to use the energies of men, he deplores them. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In any accurate sense theory is to be judged only as an effective or ineffective instrument of a desire: the discussion of doctrines is technical and not moral. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He tried mixing it with many materials, first using magnesia, which, however, proved ineffective. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Typist: Ralph