Link Centre Dictionary

fruitless

fruit·less

UK/ˈfɹuːtləs/ US/ˈfɹutləs/ uncommon archaic rare

adjective

1.

unproductive of success

  • “a fruitless search”
  • “futile years after her artistic peak”
  • “a sleeveless errand”
  • “a vain attempt”

Origin

Inherited from Middle English fruytles; equivalent to fruit + -less. Compare Middle English withouten fruyt (“fruitless”, literally “without fruit”).

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.