Fruitless

/ˈfɹuːtləs/ · adjective

Meaning

Bearing no fruit; barren..

Definitions by Sense

1. Bearing no fruit; barren.
2. (figuratively) Unproductive, useless.
3. (figuratively, archaic) Of a person: unable to have children; barren, infertile.
4. (rare) Of a diet, etc.: without fruit.

Example Sentences

[S]he [Rachel Carson] also warned of falls in which "there was no pollination and there would be no fruit." […] The entomologist Stephen L. Buchmann and the crop ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan amplified Carson's warning in their 1996 book, The Forgotten Pollinators. They predicted fruitless falls unless our land-use patterns changed fast. But few people paid attention.

The unskilled man’s attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless.

Here alſo ſprong that goodly golden fruit, / With which Acontius got his louer trew, / Whom he had long time ſought with fruitleſſe ſuit; […]

[I]f we preſent our ſelues, raſhly and vnaduiſedly, as if we went to a play, or to diſpatch ſome worldly buſineſſe; wee ſhall hardly keepe our minds from negligent wandring and worldly diſtractions, which will make the Word of God fruitleſſe and vnprofitable.

The Ways of Heav’n are dark and intricate, Puzzled in Mazes, and perplext with Errors; Our Underſtanding traces ’em in vain, Loſt and bewilder’d in the fruitleſs Search; […]

[A]t length, after repeated fruitleſs trials, he lay down panting by me, kiſs'd my falling tears, and aſk'd me tenderly, what was the meaning of ſo much complaining, and if I had not born it better from other than I did from him?

[W]hatever Preparations ſoever are made for the Salvation of Sinners, and of how long ſoever they are, yet the God-tempting, God-provoking, and fruitleſs Profeſſor is like to go without a Share therein: […]

We wish to speak temperately of what assumes a Russian dress and name, under the auspices of the Emperor Alexander; but we rejoice that the overbearing doctrines of his Minister failed to abash or intimidate the Neapolitans; and we do trust, from the bottom of our souls, that, as they did not avert the revolution of Naples, so they will be fruitless to check the course of that noble regeneration of which they could not debar the virtuous and long-suffering Spaniards, or impair those vast blessings with which it is pregnant to the civilized world.

Synonyms for fruitless

Antonyms for fruitless

Related Words

Word Forms

• more fruitless
• most fruitless
• fruitlesse

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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