How to Use vain in a Sentence

vain

adjective

• He is the vainest man I know.
• Volunteers searched the area in the vain hope of finding clues.
• A vain effort to quell the public's fears only made matters worse.
• She is very vain about her appearance.
• Here's to the selfie, in all its forms: the public, the private, the tasteful, the goofy, the cool, the vain.
  — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, 2 Sep. 2021
• Smith said she home-schooled Kameron and doesn’t want his death to be in vain.
  — Alexis Stevens, ajc, 1 Dec. 2022
• Despite years of trying in vain, the pair had yet to have a child.
  — Nathan Smith, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2023
• And, as the old church folk would say, our living shall not be in vain.
  — Danté Stewart, CNN, 18 Feb. 2022
• Hackman turns him down and scolds him for taking the name of the Lord in vain.
  — Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024
• The Americans, who had the lead when the buzzer sounded the first time, protest in vain.
  — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 10 Sep. 2024
• Neither is the vain hope that the U.S. can beat China at its own game.
  — Eyck Freymann, Fortune, 24 Mar. 2021
• In vain, the fans hollered for their team to rally in the final seconds.
  — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Oct. 2021
• But attempts by the sun to warm up the region will largely be in vain.
  — Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Nov. 2022
• The loss meant Stephon Huderson's big night was in vain.
  — Rod Walker, NOLA.com, 16 Oct. 2020
• Their calls for air support, which may have saved their lives, were in vain.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 24 June 2021
• When that wait proved to be mostly in vain, Hatch prepared to move on.
  — Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2022
• Search teams tried in vain but never found Sisof or her body.
  — Mark Thiessen, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Aug. 2020
• Flattery won't get us anywhere as the moody Moon squares off with vain Venus.
  — Tarot Astrologers, chicagotribune.com, 15 Nov. 2021
• Micheal Slabaugh says an FBI agent promised his daughter’s death wouldn’t be in vain.
  — Mario Ariza, sun-sentinel.com, 3 Mar. 2021
• This isn't to say that a commitment to the Facebook boycott is in vain.
  — Michelle Santiago Cortés, refinery29.com, 29 June 2020
• Coming down here and making a choice to play was supposed to not be in vain.
  — Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2020
• Or dancing on the ice in a vain attempt to keep their feet warm on a minus-30 ice-fishing trip.
  — John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 29 Jan. 2018
• This time, the poll workers denied them, and men smoked cigars in a vain effort to drive them away.
  — Grant Segall, cleveland.com, 22 July 2017
• Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.
  — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 20 May 2024
• Worked off to the side during training camp and waited in vain as the 49ers sought trade partners.
  — Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2022
• Now, Putin argues that death on the battlefield means a life not lived in vain.
  — Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023
• But since then, many others have picked up where Paul left off, to make sure Jesse didn’t die in vain.
  — AZCentral.com, 26 June 2023
• For nearly as long, the rest have tried mostly in vain to compete.
  — Laura Forman, WSJ, 19 June 2020
• Everyone can learn from his mistakes; that's the way to make sure that his life wasn't in vain.
  — Lynsey Eidell, Peoplemag, 18 Sep. 2024
• But such gestures of goodwill proved elusive during the Cold War, and Humphrey’s efforts were in vain.
  — Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Oct. 2024

Last Updated: 12 Nov 2024