futilely en · ADV
Pronunciation
- /ˈfju.tə.li/ (US)
- /ˈfju.taɪl.li/ (US)
- /ˈfju.təl.li/ (US)
Etymology
Etymology tree English futile Middle English -ly English -ly English futilely From futile + -ly.
Meanings
-
In a futile manner.
[…] within those dolls where some things still lurk unseen, struggling futilely to undo the red threads that bind their forms, […]
2014, Rin Chupeco, The Girl from the Well:Her counsellors […] were reluctant to accept the cession of Bombay and Tangier, and […] it proved costly to maintain, and when the present struggle was over it was futilely abandoned in 1684.
1966, H. V. Livermore, A New History of Portugal, page 191:My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, while my eyes sought in vain for a duplicate of the button which had given us ingress.
1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC:Near-synonyms: fruitlessly, pointlessly, to no avail, in vain
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more futilely | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most futilely | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Synonyms
fruitlessly · to no avail · in vain · pointlessly
Translations (7)
fi turhaan (Translations) · pl daremnie (Translations) · fr en pure perte (Translations) · pl bezcelowo (Translations) · pt futilmente (Translations) · fr futilement (Translations) · fi hyödyttömästi (Translations)