"futility" meaning in All languages combined

See futility on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-futility.wav [Southern-England] Forms: futilities [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪlɪti Etymology: From Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”). By surface analysis, futile + -ity. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*ǵʰew-}}, {{bor|en|la|fūtilitās||worthlessness, futility}} Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”), {{surf|en|futile|-ity}} By surface analysis, futile + -ity Head templates: {{en-noun|-|+}} futility (usually uncountable, plural futilities)
  1. (uncountable) The quality of being futile or useless. Tags: uncountable, usually Translations (quality of being futile): ματαιότης (mataiótēs) [feminine] (Ancient Greek), безполе́зност (bezpoléznost) [feminine] (Bulgarian), futilitat [feminine] (Catalan), futilesa [feminine] (Catalan), marnost [feminine] (Czech), zbytečnost [feminine] (Czech), asjatus (Estonian), turhuus (Finnish), hyödyttömyys (Finnish), turhanpäiväisyys (Finnish), futilité [feminine] (French), futilidade [feminine] (Galician), Sinnlosigkeit [feminine] (German), Vergeblichkeit [feminine] (German), futilità [feminine] (Italian), за́лудност (záludnost) [feminine] (Macedonian), беспо́лезност (bespóleznost) [feminine] (Macedonian), futilitat [feminine] (Occitan), daremność [feminine] (Polish), futilidade [feminine] (Portuguese), тще́тность (tščétnostʹ) [feminine] (Russian), бесполе́зность (bespoléznostʹ) [feminine] (Russian), futilidad [feminine] (Spanish), meningslöshet [common-gender] (Swedish), fruktlöshet [common-gender] (Swedish), värdelöshet [common-gender] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-futility-en-noun-pl7tClw0 Categories (other): English terms with collocations Disambiguation of 'quality of being futile': 91 7 1
  2. (countable) Something, especially an act, that is futile. Tags: countable, usually
    Sense id: en-futility-en-noun-yLRHBBlj
  3. (uncountable) Unimportance. Tags: uncountable, usually
    Sense id: en-futility-en-noun-hKBod~W9 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English terms suffixed with -ity Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 36 1 63 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 31 1 68 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ity: 23 2 75
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: exercise in futility

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for futility meaning in All languages combined (7.1kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "exercise in futility"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵʰew-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "fūtilitās",
        "4": "",
        "5": "worthlessness, futility"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "futile",
        "3": "-ity"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, futile + -ity",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”). By surface analysis, futile + -ity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "futilities",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "+"
      },
      "expansion": "futility (usually uncountable, plural futilities)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "an exercise of futility",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "His taking the bar exam for a third time was pure futility.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The quality of being futile or useless."
      ],
      "id": "en-futility-en-noun-pl7tClw0",
      "links": [
        [
          "futile",
          "futile"
        ],
        [
          "useless",
          "useless"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable) The quality of being futile or useless."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "bezpoléznost",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "безполе́зност"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilitat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilesa"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "marnost"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "zbytečnost"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "et",
          "lang": "Estonian",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "word": "asjatus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "word": "turhuus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "word": "hyödyttömyys"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "word": "turhanpäiväisyys"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilité"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilidade"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Sinnlosigkeit"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "Vergeblichkeit"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "grc",
          "lang": "Ancient Greek",
          "roman": "mataiótēs",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "ματαιότης"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilità"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "záludnost",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "за́лудност"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "bespóleznost",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "беспо́лезност"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "oc",
          "lang": "Occitan",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilitat"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "daremność"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilidade"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "tščétnostʹ",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "тще́тность"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "bespoléznostʹ",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "бесполе́зность"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "futilidad"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "meningslöshet"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "fruktlöshet"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "91 7 1",
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "quality of being futile",
          "tags": [
            "common-gender"
          ],
          "word": "värdelöshet"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1803, Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson",
          "text": "But fashion and authority apart, and bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him, his sophisms, futilities, and incomprehensibilities, and what remains?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 5, Robert Clark, “Exhibition preview: Goya: Fantasies, Follies And Disasters, Manchester”, in Guardian",
          "text": "There are moments of profound existential angst, howls of despair at the absurd futilities of war and a sneering disgust at the soul-destroying wastage of human potential.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something, especially an act, that is futile."
      ],
      "id": "en-futility-en-noun-yLRHBBlj",
      "links": [
        [
          "futile",
          "futile"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable) Something, especially an act, that is futile."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "36 1 63",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 1 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 2 75",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ity",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unimportance."
      ],
      "id": "en-futility-en-noun-hKBod~W9",
      "links": [
        [
          "Unimportance",
          "unimportance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable) Unimportance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪlɪti"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-futility.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/19/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/19/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "futility"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English 4-syllable words",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰew-",
    "English terms suffixed with -ity",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪlɪti",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪlɪti/4 syllables"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "exercise in futility"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ǵʰew-"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "root"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "fūtilitās",
        "4": "",
        "5": "worthlessness, futility"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "futile",
        "3": "-ity"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, futile + -ity",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin fūtilitās (“worthlessness, futility”). By surface analysis, futile + -ity.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "futilities",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-",
        "2": "+"
      },
      "expansion": "futility (usually uncountable, plural futilities)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "an exercise of futility",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "His taking the bar exam for a third time was pure futility.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The quality of being futile or useless."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "futile",
          "futile"
        ],
        [
          "useless",
          "useless"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable) The quality of being futile or useless."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1803, Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson",
          "text": "But fashion and authority apart, and bringing Plato to the test of reason, take from him, his sophisms, futilities, and incomprehensibilities, and what remains?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 September 5, Robert Clark, “Exhibition preview: Goya: Fantasies, Follies And Disasters, Manchester”, in Guardian",
          "text": "There are moments of profound existential angst, howls of despair at the absurd futilities of war and a sneering disgust at the soul-destroying wastage of human potential.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something, especially an act, that is futile."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "futile",
          "futile"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(countable) Something, especially an act, that is futile."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English uncountable nouns"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unimportance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Unimportance",
          "unimportance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncountable) Unimportance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪlɪti"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-futility.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/19/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/19/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-futility.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "bezpoléznost",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "безполе́зност"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilitat"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilesa"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "marnost"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "zbytečnost"
    },
    {
      "code": "et",
      "lang": "Estonian",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "word": "asjatus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "word": "turhuus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "word": "hyödyttömyys"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "word": "turhanpäiväisyys"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilité"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilidade"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Sinnlosigkeit"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "Vergeblichkeit"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "roman": "mataiótēs",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ματαιότης"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilità"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "záludnost",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "за́лудност"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "bespóleznost",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "беспо́лезност"
    },
    {
      "code": "oc",
      "lang": "Occitan",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilitat"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "daremność"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilidade"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "tščétnostʹ",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "тще́тность"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "bespoléznostʹ",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "бесполе́зность"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "futilidad"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "meningslöshet"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "fruktlöshet"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "quality of being futile",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "värdelöshet"
    }
  ],
  "word": "futility"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.