as in aimless
having or seeming to have no purpose or reason
I have to go to another purposeless meeting tonight. purposeless suffering
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Recent Examples of purposeless
But here’s a question: How much longer can the country afford to lure so many of its promising talents into a life of purposeless paper-pushing and legalized economic vandalism that antitrust has become?
—
Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Marine biologists had thought that the pelvic bones were purposeless in the marine environment, and would eventually disappear given another million or so years of evolution.
—Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Marine biologists had thought that the pelvic bones were purposeless in the marine environment, and would eventually disappear given another million or so years of evolution.
—Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposeless
Adjective
-
Meetings without purpose are not aimless.—
Nirit Cohen,
Forbes.com,
31 Aug. 2025
-
The pleasure Warner brings to the exchange reflects just how much his character has transformed from an aimless teen afraid to fail into an adult who recognizes that trial and error are part of life.—
Laura Bradley,
The Atlantic,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
For example, some parents may wonder if these behaviors are related to things like stimming (repetitive movement or sounds), echolalia (meaningless repetition of words), or self-regulation behaviors.—
Wendy Wisner,
Parents,
8 Sep. 2025
-
The story unfolds in three distinct chapters as the crisis goes up the chain of command, with each part of the film showing how all our systems and technology are ultimately meaningless in the face of such destructive power.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
In this instance, Winston, after his mutation, is looking clean house on Bob Garbinger (Kevin Bacon), a corrupt businessman whose haphazard ways led to his terminal illness and skirts treating him for it.—
Tim Lammers,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
-
But the study said many students, parents and school officials felt the roll-out of the policy was haphazard and that enforcement has been inconsistent.—
Scott Travis,
Sun Sentinel,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
The higher the position, the greater the visibility, and the more costly even minor lapses become.—
Julian Hayes II,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Blue jumpsuits indicate an immigration infraction or a minor criminal charge; red ones denote a more serious crime.—
Jonathan Blitzer,
New Yorker,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Seattle did very little to silence those critics in Week 1.—
Michael-Shawn Dugar,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
-
He was joined by little bro Jason, who's younger than him by 13 months.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Digital fingerprinting collates an array of data from your phone — your IP address, device model and OS, time zone, setup and anything else if can get — to create a unique identifier in aggregate, even if each individual data snippet us useless on its own.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Never mind that large language models have so far proven useless at 95% of the companies that have made their workforces try to use them, researchers from MIT recently found.—
Allison Morrow,
CNN Money,
10 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Facts felt like pointless things, and the best way to love someone is to not look away from their pain.—
Sarah Adler
September 8,
Literary Hub,
8 Sep. 2025
-
The rest are kind of pointless.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
7 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Boise State basketball’s conference schedule was announced on Tuesday morning, and there’s a slight difference to this year’s Mountain West slate.—
Shaun Goodwin,
Idaho Statesman,
9 Sep. 2025
-
While strong finances and health helped bolster the country's overall 70% score, that was offset by factors including income inequality, a slight increase in unemployment and a decline in happiness.—
Lorie Konish,
CNBC,
9 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Purposeless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposeless. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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