unavailingadj.
/ˌʌnəˈveɪlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˌənəˈveɪlɪŋ/ (un- prefix1 4.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adjective] > unavailing
gainlessc1175
speedless13..
unspeedfula1340
ineffectualc1425
frustratory1490
unvailablea1500
frustrate1529
uneffectual1548
unavailable1549
unfectual1549
bootless1559
dudgeon?1589
inavailable1650
unavailing1672
dud1914
1672 J. Dryden Conquest Granada ii. iii. iii. 111 I..would, your unavailing valour, call From aiding those whom Heav'n has doom'd to fall.
1728 E. Haywood tr. M.-A. de Gomez Belle Assemblée (1732) II. 286 In hope that..I might bring him to a just Sense of his Folly, and cure a Passion so unavailing.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. l. 216 Their mummies were embalmed..to preserve the ancient mansion of the soul, during a period of three thousand years. But the attempt is partial and unavailing.
1843 A. Bethune Sc. Peasant's Fire-side 117 The heavy sea which was then running, rendered their efforts unavailing.
1891 F. W. Farrar Darkness & Dawn II. lv. 217 The inventiveness of cruelty which Tigellinus and Nero studied..amid the faint, unavailing remonstrances of Poppæa.
Derivatives
unaˈvailingly adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > uselessness, vanity, or futility > [adverb] > unavailingly
bootless1423
ineffectuallyc1610
bootlessly1612
frustrately1632
uneffectually1680
frustraneously1689
unavailingly1748
unavailably1860
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. xxviii. 170 Must..those arms..be used to repel brutal force; all their strength, unavailingly perhaps, exerted to repel it?
1810 F. Lee Odes of Pindar vii. 83 Approaching age serene I view, Nor unavailingly deplore The time, when I shall be no more.
1885 Law Rep.: Probate Div. 10 99 Every effort was unavailingly made to avoid the collision.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1672