meaninglessness

Meaning

1. 1noununcountableformal

   The quality of having no purpose, importance or sense, or the feeling that life has none.

   Grammar: No plural and no article: he felt meaninglessness.

   Patterns

   • the meaninglessness of something
   • a feeling of meaninglessness

   After losing his job, he was overwhelmed by a feeling of meaninglessness.

   The novel explores the meaninglessness of modern routine.

   She spoke about the meaninglessness of war.

Common combinations

a sense of meaninglessness

A sense of meaninglessness crept over him.

the meaninglessness of life

The poem reflects on the meaninglessness of life.

feel meaninglessness

Many people feel meaninglessness during hard times.

existential meaninglessness

The author wrote about existential meaninglessness.

overcome meaninglessness

Volunteering helped her overcome meaninglessness.

Synonyms and how they differ

futility

Futility means efforts that cannot succeed, but meaninglessness means lacking any sense at all.

pointlessness

Pointlessness is plainer and more common in everyday speech.

emptiness

Emptiness stresses the feeling inside a person, not the idea of lacking sense.

absurdity

Absurdity suggests something silly or irrational, whereas meaninglessness is more sad than silly.

Opposites

Word family

meaning noun

the sense or purpose of something

meaningless adjective

without meaning

meaningful adjective

having purpose or importance

meaninglessly adverb

in a way that has no purpose

Commonly confused: meaninglessness or meaningfulness?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “meaninglessness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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