useless

Meanings

1. 1adjectivenot comparable

   Not useful or helpful; not able to do what is needed.

   Grammar: Usually not used with 'very' or in comparative forms; it's a strong adjective.

   Patterns

   • be useless
   • useless to someone
   • useless for something

   This map is useless; it doesn't show any street names.

   My old phone is useless for taking good photos.

   The instructions were useless—I couldn't understand them at all.

2. 2adjectivenot comparable

   Having no effect or result; futile.

   Grammar: Often used with 'it is useless to do something'.

   Patterns

   • it is useless to do something
   • useless effort

   It's useless to argue with him; he never changes his mind.

   All our efforts to save the tree were useless.

3. 3adjectivenot comparableinformal

   Informal: not good at doing something; incompetent.

   Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'useless at something'.

   Patterns

   • useless at something
   • feel useless

   I'm useless at math; I always need a calculator.

   He felt useless when he couldn't help his friend.

Word forms

Common combinations

completely useless

The umbrella was completely useless in the strong wind.

worse than useless

His advice was worse than useless; it made things harder.

feel useless

She felt useless when she couldn't help.

prove useless

The new software proved useless for our needs.

Synonyms and how they differ

worthless

Stronger; means having no value at all, often for objects.

ineffective

More formal; means not producing the desired result.

pointless

Used for actions that have no purpose, not for objects.

Opposites

Word family

uselessly adverb

In a useless way.

uselessness noun

The state of being useless.

use verb

To employ for a purpose.

useful adjective

Helpful; able to be used.

Commonly confused: useless or useful?

Practice

Make it your own

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

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