Fruitless

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Fruitless

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

adjective

Pronunciation

FROOT-lus  /ˈfruːtləs/

Definition

Not achieving the desired results; pointless; producing no fruit.

Plain meaning

Fruitless means producing no result — a fruitless search found nothing, a fruitless effort was wasted, a fruitless negotiation reached no agreement.

Register

Slightly formal. More common in written than spoken English. Standard in journalism and analytical writing.