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/frˈutləs/ Listen

adjective

Fruitless adj.

Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.

Productive of no advantage or good effect; vain; idle; useless; unprofitable; as, a fruitless attempt; a fruitless controversy. "They in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours."

Synonyms: Useless; barren; unprofitable; abortive; ineffectual; vain; idle; profitless. See Useless.

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Etymology of 'Fruitless'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Fruitless" Quotes from Famous Books

... has reached Moscow. The Emperor is gone to Moscow to establish order and obedience, for the civil and military authorities are quarrelling, and the troops are unwilling to form the cordon. All cordons I believe to be fruitless. It would be as wise to form a cordon against the wind. The disease advances, however, along the high roads and navigable rivers. It is the most ...

— A Political Diary 1828-1830, Volume II • Edward Law (Lord Ellenborough)

... to find out. He had had plenty of experience in dodging into that van. He lifted the flap and leaped in. There was black darkness in there. He put out his hand cautiously. It touched a man. The move that the man made was a sort of fruitless struggle, indicating that his limbs were secured ...

— When Egypt Went Broke • Holman Day

... But their quest was fruitless; McCloud met them at the gate with a repeating-rifle, knocked the game-warden down, took away his revolver, and laughed at Byram, who stood awkwardly apart, dazed by the business-like rapidity of ...

— A Young Man in a Hurry - and Other Short Stories • Robert W. Chambers

... at my suggestion to examine all the country to the west, to see if any belt of country free from tsetse could be found to afford us an outlet. The search was fruitless. The town and district of Linyanti are surrounded by forests infested by this poisonous insect, except at a few points, as that by which we entered at Sanshureh and another at Sesheke. But the lands both east and west of the Barotse valley are free from this insect plague. There, however, ...

— Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa - Journeys and Researches in South Africa • David Livingstone

... us in, getting more and more depressed at the thought of leaving us anywhere. That Freiburg summer had seared us both deep, and each of us dreaded another separation more than either let the other know. And then, one night, after another fruitless search, Carl came home and informed me that the whole scheme was off. Instead of doing his research work, we would all go to Munich, and he would take an unexpected semester ...

— An American Idyll - The Life of Carleton H. Parker • Cornelia Stratton Parker

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