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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Futile \Fu"tile\ (?; 277), adjective [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See {Fuse}, verb (used with an object)]
1. Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [Obs.]
Talkers and futile persons. --Bacon.
2. Of no importance; answering no useful end; useless; vain; worthless. ''Futile theories.'' --I. Taylor.
His reasoning . . . was singularly futile. --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
futile
adjective
1: producing no result or effect; "a futile effort"; "the therapy was ineffectual"; "an otiose undertaking"; "an unavailing attempt" [syn: {ineffectual}, {otiose}, {unavailing}]
2: unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain attempt" [syn: {bootless}, {fruitless}, {sleeveless}, {vain}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
147 Moby Thesaurus words for "futile": abortive, absurd, airy, apish, asinine, bad, barren, batty, befooled, beguiled, besotted, bootless, brainless, buffoonish, catchpenny, cockeyed, counterproductive, crazy, credulous, daffy, daft, dazed, dizzy, doomed, doting, dumb, effete, empty, etiolated, failed, failing, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flaky, flimsy, fond, fool, foolheaded, foolish, foredoomed, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fuddled, gaga, goofy, gulled, hollow, idiotic, idle, ill-advised, ill-considered, ill-suited, ill-timed, imbecile, impolitic, impotent, improper, in vain, inadequate, inadvisable, inane, inappropriate, inapt, incongruous, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, inept, inexpedient, infatuated, infelicitous, inoperative, inopportune, insane, insufficient, invalid, kooky, lame, light, loony, mad, mal a propos, malapropos, manque, maudlin, miscarried, miscarrying, moronic, nugacious, nugatory, nutty, of no effect, of no force, otiose, out of place, profitless, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, shallow, silly, slender, slight, sterile, stickit, stillborn, stupid, successless, superficial, thoughtless, trifling, trite, trivial, unavailable, unavailing, unbefitting, undesirable, unfit, unfitting, unfortunate, unhappy, unmeet, unproductive, unprofitable, unsatisfactory, unseasonable, unseemly, unsuccessful, unsuitable, untimely, unwise, useless, vacuous, vain, vapid, wacky, wet, windy, witless, worthless, wrong
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