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Avail vs Futile - What's the difference?

avail | futile |

As a verb avail

is (transitive|often|reflexive) to turn to the advantage of.

As a noun avail

is (lb) benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.

As an adjective futile is

incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.

avail

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (transitive, often, reflexive) To turn to the advantage of.
    • I availed myself of the opportunity.
  • To be of service to.
    • Artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment.
  • To promote; to assist.
    • (Alexander Pope)
  • To be of use or advantage; to answer or serve the purpose; to have strength, force, or efficacy sufficient to accomplish the object.
    • The plea in court must avail .
    ''This scheme will not avail.
    Medicines will not avail to halt the disease.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • Words avail very little with me, young man.
  • To provide; to make available.
  • * {{quote-news, 2004, November 16, Nik Ogbulie, Decongesting the Banking Floors, This Day citation
    • , passage=With this initiative, Valucard becomes an open system that is not limited to point of sale (POS) transactions, but now avails cash to its holders in various locations nationwide.}}

    Antonyms

    * disavail

    Derived terms

    * available * disavail

    Related terms

    * availability * availingly * unavailable * unavailing

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (lb) Benefit; value, profit; advantage toward success.
  • *:
  • *:I shal take the aduenture sayd Balen that god wille ordeyne me / but the swerd ye shalle not haue at this tyme by the feythe of my body / ye shalle repente hit within short tyme sayd the damoysel/ For I wold haue the swerd more for your auaylle than for myne / for I am passyng heuy for your sake
  • *, III.1:
  • *:hardy Citizenssticke not to sacrifice their honours and consciences, as those of old, their lives, for their Countries availe and safety.
  • *{{quote-book, 1895, (Andrew Lang), A Monk of Fife
    • , passage=So this friar, unworthy as he was of his holy calling, had me at an avail on every side, nor do I yet see what I could do but obey him, as I did.}}
  • Effect in achieving a goal or aim; purpose, use (now usually in negative constructions).
  • :
  • *
  • *:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
  • *2014 , , " Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter", The Guardian , 18 October:
  • *:At half-time, Poyet replaced Wes Brown with Liam Bridcutt in the heart of defence and sent out the rest of the players to atone for their first-half mistakes. To no avail .
  • *(Richard Henry Stoddard) (1825–1903)
  • *:the avails of their own industry
  • Effort; striving.
  • *{{quote-book, 1613, (Thomas Campion), chapter=Songs of Mourning, , year_published=1907, page=125, title= Poetical Works (in English) of Thomas Campion
    • , passage=And ev'n now, though he breathless lies, his sails / Are struggling with the winds, for our avails / T'explore a passage hid from human tract, / Will fame him in the enterprise or fact.}}
  • An advertising slot or package.
  • *{{quote-book, 1994, Barry L. Sherman, page=353, title= Telecommunications Management: Broadcasting/cable and the New Technologies, isbn=0070566984
    • , passage=The salesperson at an affiliate TV station might prepare an avail which offers two weeks of spots in early and late news
  • *{{quote-book, 2004, Walter S. Ciciora et al., page=123, title= Modern Cable Television Technology: Video, Voice, and Data Communications, isbn=1558608281
    • , passage=At an avail , the ad server plays out the MPEG-2 audio/video elementary streams.}}
  • A press avail.
  • :
  • Non-binding notice of availability for work.
  • (lb) A readily available stock of oil.
  • *{{quote-book, 1967, title= Interstate Compact on Oil and Gas (10th Extension), page=95
    • , passage=Total crude oil avails (production plus purchases) of even highly "self-sufficient" refiners are far greater than their reported refinery inputs.}}

    Usage notes

    * (success or benefit) Very often encountered in negative phrases, such as of' or '''to''' '''no''' or '''little''' ' avail .

    futile

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.
  • *
    • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or
  • *
  • *:There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 15, author=Marc Higginson, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Shamrock Rovers 0-4 Tottenham , passage=Goals from Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend, Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane sealed the win, but Rubin Kazan's 1-1 draw against PAOK Salonika rendered Spurs' efforts futile .}}

    Synonyms

    * ineffectual * unavailing * vain * idle * fruitless * See also

    Antonyms

    * effectual * effective

    Related terms

    * futility * futilitarian