adjective

fruitless

FROOT-luhs

adjective

Producing no useful result; unsuccessful.

"They spent a fruitless afternoon searching for the missing keys."

"His attempts to reach customer service were fruitless."

Bearing no fruit.

"The old tree in the yard has been fruitless for years."

How to Use Fruitless

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishProducing no result, or literally, bearing no fruit.

Common pairings

a fruitless search fruitless effort fruitless negotiations

more fruitless comparative, most fruitless superlative

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They spent a _____ afternoon searching for the missing keys.

From Middle English fruytles, built from fruit plus -less, "without."

witless limitless