From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vain \Vain\, adjective [Compar. {Vainer}; superl. {Vainest}.] [F. vain, L. vanus empty, void, vain. Cf. {Vanish}, {Vanity}, {Vaunt} to boast.]
1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. ''Thy vain excuse.'' --Shak.
Every man walketh in a vain show. --Ps. xxxix. 6.
Let no man deceive you with vain words. --Eph. v. 6.
Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye! --Shak.
Vain visdom all, and false philosophy. --Milton.
2. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
Bring no more vain oblations. --Isa. i. 13.
Vain is the force of man To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. --Dryden.
3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? --James ii. 20 (Rev. Ver.).
The minstrels played on every side, Vain of their art. --Dryden.
4. Showy; ostentatious.
Load some vain church with old theatric state. --Pope.
Syn: Empty; worthless; fruitless; ineffectual; idle; unreal; shadowy; showy; ostentatious; light; inconstant; deceitful; delusive; unimportant; trifling.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vain \Vain\, noun Vanity; emptiness; -- now used only in the phrase in vain.
{For vain}. See {In vain}. [Obs.] --Shak.
{In vain}, to no purpose; without effect; ineffectually. '' In vain doth valor bleed.'' --Milton. '' In vain they do worship me.'' --Matt. xv. 9.
{To take the name of God in vain}, to use the name of God with levity or profaneness.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance; "a conceited fool"; "an attitude of self-conceited arrogance"; "an egotistical disregard of others"; "so swollen by victory that he was unfit for normal duty"; "growing ever more swollen-headed and arbitrary"; "vain about her clothes" [syn: {conceited}, {egotistic}, {egotistical}, {self-conceited}, {swollen}, {swollen-headed}]
2: unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain attempt" [syn: {bootless}, {fruitless}, {futile}, {sleeveless}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
147 Moby Thesaurus words for "vain": Gascon, abortive, absurd, airy, arrogant, asinine, barren, baseless, boastful, boasting, bootless, bootlessly, braggart, bragging, catchpenny, cocky, complacent, conceited, consequential, counterproductive, coxcombical, dandyish, delusive, delusory, doomed, effete, egocentric, egoistic, egotistical, empty, etiolated, fanfaron, fanfaronading, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flimsy, foolish, foppish, foredoomed, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fruitlessly, futile, futilely, gasconading, groundless, haughty, hollow, idle, ill-founded, improperly, in vain, inadequate, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inoperative, invalid, light, misleading, narcissan, narcissine, narcissistic, narcistic, nugacious, nugatory, of no force, otiose, overproud, overweening, paltry, petty, pointless, profitless, proud, puny, self-admiring, self-advertising, self-applauding, self-approving, self-assuming, self-complacent, self-conceited, self-congratulating, self-congratulatory, self-content, self-contented, self-delighting, self-endeared, self-esteeming, self-flattering, self-glorious, self-gratulating, self-gratulatory, self-important, self-lauding, self-loving, self-respecting, self-satisfied, self-sufficient, self-vaunting, shallow, silly, slender, slight, smug, sterile, stuck-up, superficial, thrasonic, thrasonical, trifling, trite, trivial, unavailable, unavailing, unbased, unfounded, ungrounded, unproductive, unprofitable, unsuccessful, unsuccessfully, unsupportable, unsupported, unsustainable, unsustained, untenable, unwarranted, useless, vacuous, vainglorious, vainly, valueless, vapid, vaporing, vaunting, void, windy, without basis, without foundation, worthless
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