adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a futile attempt (= certain to fail and not worth doing )
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I jumped up and down in a futile attempt to keep warm.
futile (= having no chance of succeeding, and therefore not worth doing )
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Doctors knew that any effort to save his life would be futile.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
attempt
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Policy strategies which attack the social and economic determinants of ill-health are dismissed as futile attempts at social engineering.
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A number of women were quite bitter about their futile attempts to get clergy to help.
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These are the remains of unfortunate wretches driven to kill themselves in a futile attempt to escape the torments of the Castle.
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They showed no qualms in spending £3 billion in a futile attempt to prop up the Pound.
effort
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Minutes later a team of paramedics began a futile effort to revive the boy.
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Sundays he slept even later than usual, in a futile effort to avoid the day.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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All efforts to save the child proved futile .
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Demonstrators condemned the summit as a futile and fruitless exercise.
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Kevin made one last futile attempt to persuade Sandra to go with him, then left.
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The goal is not to punish the rebels, but to convince them that it is futile to resist.
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Until attitudes at work are changed, attempts to improve performance are likely to prove futile .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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But a sense of apathy arises from the feeling that life is pointless and futile .
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It was all so sad, so depressing, so futile .
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The attempt to change his mind proved futile .
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The point to recognize is, of course, that it is futile to waste time classifying studies into neat little boxes.