: having or being of no use:
a
: ineffectual
a useless attempt
b
: not doing or not able to do what is needed
a dull, useless knife
An antibiotic is useless in treating this disease.
uselessly
adverb
uselessness
noun
Examples of useless in a Sentence
The tent is useless in wet conditions.
I made a useless attempt at fixing the leak.
Drugs are useless in treating the condition.
Recent Examples on the Web
The forty-five minutes felt useless; the pre-meeting did not.
—
Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
Whoop, meanwhile, doesn’t charge for the hardware itself, but requires users to sign up for membership plans that start at $200 a year, without which the device is useless.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 26 May 2026
That does not make the Registry useless.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
The arms, however, were not completely useless, according to Scherer.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 25 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for useless
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Nell Derick Debevoise Dewey, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
Whoop, meanwhile, doesn’t charge for the hardware itself, but requires users to sign up for membership plans that start at $200 a year, without which the device is useless.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 26 May 2026
That does not make the Registry useless.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
The arms, however, were not completely useless, according to Scherer.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 25 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for useless
Cite this Entry
“Useless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/useless. Accessed 30 May. 2026.
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