uselessadj.n.

Brit.

/ˈjuːsləs/, U.S.

/ˈjusləs/

Forms: see use n. and -less suffix.

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: use n., -less suffix.

Etymology: < use n. + -less suffix. Compare useful adj.

A. adj.

1. For which there is no present use; currently unused. Also: out of use. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > non-use > [adjective] > for which there is no present use

useless1592

1592 Countess of Pembroke tr. R. Garnier Antonius iv. sig. N3 The vseles morion shall On crooke hang by the wall.

1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 87 If we wanted land to till, Wherewith we might our vselesse Souldiers fill.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 330 The Money..had lain by me so long useless, that it was grown rusty.

1745 Transl. & Paraphr. 50 They'll lay the useless Trumpet by, and study War no more.

1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navigation 39 The money would lie useless and unapplied a great part of the time.

1824 J. Mander Derbyshire Miners' Gloss. Ginging a Shaft is also arching the mouth of an old useless Shaft, which is usually done with stone in order to prevent Cattle falling therein.

1840 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VII. 180 He..sent the baggage and all his useless people to Melitæe.

1862 E. Washburn Amer. Law Real Property (1864) II. 612 (Funk) The tenendum, limiting and defining the tenure by which the lands are to be held, and once an important clause in the deed, is useless in this country.

1908 Imperial Gazetteer of India (new ed.) XII. 129 The tank is now in ruins and has been useless for many years.

a. Devoid of useful qualities; fulfilling no worthwhile aim or profitable purpose; not serving the proposed or desired end; unserviceable, ineffectual.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adjective]

leera1250

unprofitablea1398

noughtc1400

inutile1484

unutilea1500

vain1578

useless1593

unuseful1604

serviceless1608

aidless1674

unproductive1713

good-for-nothing1727

nowt1790

invaluable1803

stupid1844

dud1904

puckerooed1919

1593 A. Chute Beawtie Dishonoured 46 Then he shewes a withered arme Dryde at his byrth-day lame and vselesse still.

a1640 F. Beaumont et al. Loves Cure i. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Qqqqq2^v/1 Let your deedes Make answer to me; uselesse are all words Till you have writ performance with your Swords.

1645 R. Stapleton tr. Musaeus Ερωτοπαιγνιον: Loves Hero & Leander sig. C3^v The giddy Seas their uselesse drinke bestow'd.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 121 Useless to the Currier were their Hides.

1710 W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes (1722) vi. 12 [Prometheus] brought Men out from the Caves where they liv'd useless, and like Beasts.

1729 T. Innes Crit. Ess. Anc. Inhabitants Scotl. I. i. iii. 68 An useless as well as an endless discussion.

1729 T. Innes Crit. Ess. Anc. Inhabitants Scotl. I. ii. iv. 362 It became quite useless towards supporting Buchanan's schemes.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. ii. 46 In the useless rhetoric of that age.

1825 W. Scott Betrothed i, in Tales Crusaders II. 16 He..fell..ere Raoul could afford him his support, useless as that might have proved.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 271 The six thousand waggons which had accompanied the French army were useless.

1890 Retrospect Med. 102 177 Physicians, almost without exception, give nearly useless doses of arsenic.

1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 793/1 The material may be useless except for varnish-making.

1947 M. E. Boylan This Tremendous Lover (new ed.) ix. 120 Good-will can work wonders even when a book at first appears insipid and useless.

1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 166 These tactics were not only useless but counter-productive.

2008 Express (Nexis) 7 June Here's a piece of useless information: There are no Edward VIII pillar boxes in Warwickshire.

b. In predicative use, with anticipatory it as subject and infinitive: futile; pointless.

ΚΠ

1644 Concerning Constit. of Aire Infected 5 It may not perhaps be uselesse to describe what Sores are truly pestilentiall.

1687 tr. P. Juries Accomplishm. Script. Prophecies i. xxi. 224 This is so notorious, that it would be useless to bring proof of it.

1784 London Mag. June 494/1 As he is not in a condition to understand you, it would be useless to apply to him.

1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene II. i. 46 His plantation was at the Red River. It was difficult to escape, and, indeed, almost useless to attempt it.

1874 Overland Monthly Apr. 369/2 If you step on one [sc. a toad] after nightfall, it will be useless to objurgate.

1936 Stage June 73/2 People laugh at sins they wouldn't think of committing; and in a world of changing mores, it's useless to draw absolute lines.

1961 A. Hosain Sunlight on Broken Column iv. ii. 278 It was useless to rail against the inevitable.

2002 New Yorker 21 Jan. 74/1 It would be useless to deny that we were just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

c. Of persons: performing no worthwhile role or service; of inadequate or insufficient ability; incompetent, inefficient.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adjective] > specifically of persons

unserviable1544

unserviceablea1556

useless1646

sober1808

unconstructive1859

feckless1869

1646 J. Bastwick Utter Routing of Army of Independents 629 You divide that Army which God hath made so instrumentall for the Kingdomes safety, and you overlook the greatest part thereof as if they were uselesse men and had done nothing for the preservation of City and Country.

1670 J. Covel Diary in J. T. Bent Early Voy. Levant (1893) 135 With great courage..[he] turn'd upon the Rogues, who were uselesse, and thought they had him safe.

1783 E. Burke Rep. Affairs India in Wks. (1842) II. 52 That Mr. Hastings..had recalled a useless officer.

1855 H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha x. 128 Bring not here a useless woman.

1900 H. Lawson On Track 41 ‘What are we to do now?’ enquired Andy, who was the hardest grafter, but altogether helpless, hopeless, and useless in a crisis like this.

1951 E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 132 He's packing them badly. He's quite useless.

1990 W. Perriam Fifty-minute Hour (1991) xxiv. 303 I tried to get a temp from personnel. At three p.m. some bloody useless girl shows up who doesn't know our system from a wheelbarrow.

2002 R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office: Scripts 1st Ser. Episode 3. 115 If someone's useless, you go, ‘They're about as much use as a chocolate teapot.’

B. n.

1. With the. Useless or unproductive people as a class.

ΚΠ

1812 Eclectic Rev. June 560 It would be a curious speculation, to compare the manner in which the old age of the useless is sustained in England with that in which it was sustained in France in the good old times.

1891 Proc. National Conf. of Charities & Correction 18 389 Once a village wanted to emigrate from Russia to America, and the emperor was consulted, he said he had no sort of objection..provided they would take the old and the sick and the useless.

1913 Cosmopolitan Jan. 146/1 There are just two kinds of people in the world. These are the useful and the useless.

1999 M. Kohl tr. J. Moltmann God for Secular Society i. iii. 67 The fear that the disabled, the old and the ‘useless’ are running into serious danger in our society can no longer be dismissed out of hand.

2. With the. That which is useless; the useless part of something.

ΚΠ

1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 345/2 To distinguish good from evil, the useful from the useless.

a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. i. 4 What is a utilitarian? Simply one who prefers the Useful to the Useless.

1906 Victoria County Hist. Cornwall I. 520/2 The rock..is taken,..the useless to the waste tip, and the good to the deposit floors.

1952 B. Marshall White Rabbit iii. 14 Yeo-Thomas..had to learn to separate the essential from the useless and the possibly informative from the certainly nonsensical.

1990 J. Hankins Plato in Ital. Renaissance ii. i.112 This power of reason enables him to separate the good from the bad, the useful from the useless.

Compounds

Useless Parliament n. the first parliament of Charles I, 18 June to 12 August 1625.

ΚΠ

1865 W. A. Wheeler Explanatory & Pronouncing Dict. 376/1 Useless Parliament, a name given to the first parliament held in the reign of Charles I.

1909 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 13 Mar. 6/2 The ‘useless parliament’ did nothing but offend Charles I.

1999 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 28 May The Useless Parliament of 1625..accomplished absolutely nothing because the members were perpetually squabbling.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	useless
释义	uselessadj.n. Brit. /ˈjuːsləs/, U.S. /ˈjusləs/ Forms: see use n. and -less suffix. Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: use n., -less suffix. Etymology: < use n. + -less suffix. Compare useful adj. A. adj. 1. For which there is no present use; currently unused. Also: out of use. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > non-use > [adjective] > for which there is no present use useless1592 1592 Countess of Pembroke tr. R. Garnier Antonius iv. sig. N3 The vseles morion shall On crooke hang by the wall. 1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. iv. 87 If we wanted land to till, Wherewith we might our vselesse Souldiers fill. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 330 The Money..had lain by me so long useless, that it was grown rusty. 1745 Transl. & Paraphr. 50 They'll lay the useless Trumpet by, and study War no more. 1785 J. Phillips Treat. Inland Navigation 39 The money would lie useless and unapplied a great part of the time. 1824 J. Mander Derbyshire Miners' Gloss. Ginging a Shaft is also arching the mouth of an old useless Shaft, which is usually done with stone in order to prevent Cattle falling therein. 1840 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VII. 180 He..sent the baggage and all his useless people to Melitæe. 1862 E. Washburn Amer. Law Real Property (1864) II. 612 (Funk) The tenendum, limiting and defining the tenure by which the lands are to be held, and once an important clause in the deed, is useless in this country. 1908 Imperial Gazetteer of India (new ed.) XII. 129 The tank is now in ruins and has been useless for many years. 2. a. Devoid of useful qualities; fulfilling no worthwhile aim or profitable purpose; not serving the proposed or desired end; unserviceable, ineffectual. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adjective] leera1250 unprofitablea1398 noughtc1400 inutile1484 unutilea1500 vain1578 useless1593 unuseful1604 serviceless1608 aidless1674 unproductive1713 good-for-nothing1727 nowt1790 invaluable1803 stupid1844 dud1904 puckerooed1919 1593 A. Chute Beawtie Dishonoured 46 Then he shewes a withered arme Dryde at his byrth-day lame and vselesse still. a1640 F. Beaumont et al. Loves Cure i. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Qqqqq2^v/1 Let your deedes Make answer to me; uselesse are all words Till you have writ performance with your Swords. 1645 R. Stapleton tr. Musaeus Ερωτοπαιγνιον: Loves Hero & Leander sig. C3^v The giddy Seas their uselesse drinke bestow'd. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 121 Useless to the Currier were their Hides. View more context for this quotation 1710 W. King Heathen Gods & Heroes (1722) vi. 12 [Prometheus] brought Men out from the Caves where they liv'd useless, and like Beasts. 1729 T. Innes Crit. Ess. Anc. Inhabitants Scotl. I. i. iii. 68 An useless as well as an endless discussion. 1729 T. Innes Crit. Ess. Anc. Inhabitants Scotl. I. ii. iv. 362 It became quite useless towards supporting Buchanan's schemes. 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. ii. 46 In the useless rhetoric of that age. 1825 W. Scott Betrothed i, in Tales Crusaders II. 16 He..fell..ere Raoul could afford him his support, useless as that might have proved. 1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xix. 271 The six thousand waggons which had accompanied the French army were useless. 1890 Retrospect Med. 102 177 Physicians, almost without exception, give nearly useless doses of arsenic. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 793/1 The material may be useless except for varnish-making. 1947 M. E. Boylan This Tremendous Lover (new ed.) ix. 120 Good-will can work wonders even when a book at first appears insipid and useless. 1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 166 These tactics were not only useless but counter-productive. 2008 Express (Nexis) 7 June Here's a piece of useless information: There are no Edward VIII pillar boxes in Warwickshire. b. In predicative use, with anticipatory it as subject and infinitive: futile; pointless. ΚΠ 1644 Concerning Constit. of Aire Infected 5 It may not perhaps be uselesse to describe what Sores are truly pestilentiall. 1687 tr. P. Juries Accomplishm. Script. Prophecies i. xxi. 224 This is so notorious, that it would be useless to bring proof of it. 1784 London Mag. June 494/1 As he is not in a condition to understand you, it would be useless to apply to him. 1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene II. i. 46 His plantation was at the Red River. It was difficult to escape, and, indeed, almost useless to attempt it. 1874 Overland Monthly Apr. 369/2 If you step on one [sc. a toad] after nightfall, it will be useless to objurgate. 1936 Stage June 73/2 People laugh at sins they wouldn't think of committing; and in a world of changing mores, it's useless to draw absolute lines. 1961 A. Hosain Sunlight on Broken Column iv. ii. 278 It was useless to rail against the inevitable. 2002 New Yorker 21 Jan. 74/1 It would be useless to deny that we were just waiting for the other shoe to drop. c. Of persons: performing no worthwhile role or service; of inadequate or insufficient ability; incompetent, inefficient. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [adjective] > specifically of persons unserviable1544 unserviceablea1556 useless1646 sober1808 unconstructive1859 feckless1869 1646 J. Bastwick Utter Routing of Army of Independents 629 You divide that Army which God hath made so instrumentall for the Kingdomes safety, and you overlook the greatest part thereof as if they were uselesse men and had done nothing for the preservation of City and Country. 1670 J. Covel Diary in J. T. Bent Early Voy. Levant (1893) 135 With great courage..[he] turn'd upon the Rogues, who were uselesse, and thought they had him safe. 1783 E. Burke Rep. Affairs India in Wks. (1842) II. 52 That Mr. Hastings..had recalled a useless officer. 1855 H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha x. 128 Bring not here a useless woman. 1900 H. Lawson On Track 41 ‘What are we to do now?’ enquired Andy, who was the hardest grafter, but altogether helpless, hopeless, and useless in a crisis like this. 1951 E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 132 He's packing them badly. He's quite useless. 1990 W. Perriam Fifty-minute Hour (1991) xxiv. 303 I tried to get a temp from personnel. At three p.m. some bloody useless girl shows up who doesn't know our system from a wheelbarrow. 2002 R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office: Scripts 1st Ser. Episode 3. 115 If someone's useless, you go, ‘They're about as much use as a chocolate teapot.’ B. n. 1. With the. Useless or unproductive people as a class. ΚΠ 1812 Eclectic Rev. June 560 It would be a curious speculation, to compare the manner in which the old age of the useless is sustained in England with that in which it was sustained in France in the good old times. 1891 Proc. National Conf. of Charities & Correction 18 389 Once a village wanted to emigrate from Russia to America, and the emperor was consulted, he said he had no sort of objection..provided they would take the old and the sick and the useless. 1913 Cosmopolitan Jan. 146/1 There are just two kinds of people in the world. These are the useful and the useless. 1999 M. Kohl tr. J. Moltmann God for Secular Society i. iii. 67 The fear that the disabled, the old and the ‘useless’ are running into serious danger in our society can no longer be dismissed out of hand. 2. With the. That which is useless; the useless part of something. ΚΠ 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 345/2 To distinguish good from evil, the useful from the useless. a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1859) I. i. 4 What is a utilitarian? Simply one who prefers the Useful to the Useless. 1906 Victoria County Hist. Cornwall I. 520/2 The rock..is taken,..the useless to the waste tip, and the good to the deposit floors. 1952 B. Marshall White Rabbit iii. 14 Yeo-Thomas..had to learn to separate the essential from the useless and the possibly informative from the certainly nonsensical. 1990 J. Hankins Plato in Ital. Renaissance ii. i.112 This power of reason enables him to separate the good from the bad, the useful from the useless. Compounds Useless Parliament n. the first parliament of Charles I, 18 June to 12 August 1625. ΚΠ 1865 W. A. Wheeler Explanatory & Pronouncing Dict. 376/1 Useless Parliament, a name given to the first parliament held in the reign of Charles I. 1909 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 13 Mar. 6/2 The ‘useless parliament’ did nothing but offend Charles I. 1999 Jerusalem Post (Nexis) 28 May The Useless Parliament of 1625..accomplished absolutely nothing because the members were perpetually squabbling. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < adj.n.1592
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