Blank vs Futile - What's the difference?
blank | futile | Synonyms |
(archaic) White or pale; without colour.
* Milton
Free from writing, printing, or marks; having an empty space to be filled in; as, blank paper; a blank check; a blank ballot.
* {{quote-news, year=2011
, date=December 27
, author=Mike Henson
, title=Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham
, work=BBC Sport
(figurative) Lacking characteristics which give variety; uniform.
Absolute; downright; unmixed; sheer.
Without expression.
Utterly confounded or discomfited.
* Milton
Empty; void; without result; fruitless.
Devoid of thoughts, memory, or inspiration. (rfex)
A cartridge that is designed to simulate the noise and smoke of real gunfire without actually firing a projectile.
An empty space; a void, as on a paper, or in one's memory.
* Jonathan Swift
* Hallam
* George Eliot
A space to be filled in on a form or template.
A paper without marks or characters, or with space left for writing; a ballot, form, contract, etc. that has not yet been filled in.
* Palfrey
A lot by which nothing is gained; a ticket in a lottery on which no prize is indicated.
* Dryden
(archaic) A kind of base silver money, first coined in England by Henry V., and worth about 8 pence; also, a French coin of the seventeenth century, worth about 4 pence.
(engineering) A piece of metal prepared to be made into something by a further operation, as a coin, screw, nuts.
(dominoes) A piece or division of a piece, without spots; as, the double blank"; the six blank." In blank, with an essential portion to be supplied by another; as, to make out a check in blank.
The space character; the character resulting from pressing the space-bar on a keyboard.
The point aimed at in a target, marked with a white spot; hence, the object to which anything is directed.
* Shakespeare
Aim; shot; range.
* Shakespeare
(chemistry) A sample for a control experiment that does not contain any of the analyte of interest, in order to deliberately produce a non-detection to verify that a detection is distinguishable from it.
To make void; to erase.
(slang) To ignore.
To prevent from scoring, as in a sporting event.
To become blank.
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=
Blank is a synonym of futile.
As a verb blank
is .As an adjective futile is
incapable of producing results; useless; not successful; not worth attempting.blank
English
Adjective
(en-adj)- To the blank moon / Her office they prescribed.
citation, page= , passage=Referee Michael Oliver failed to detect a foul in a crowded box and the Canaries escaped down the tunnel with the scoreline still blank .}}
- a blank''' desert; a '''blank''' wall; '''blank unconsciousness
- blank terror
- Failing to understand the question, he gave me a blank stare.
- Adam astonied stood, and blank .
- a blank day
Descendants
Noun
(en noun)- I cannot write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you.
- From this time there ensues a long blank in the history of French legislation.
- I was ill. I can't tell how long — it was a blank .
- The freemen signified their approbation by an inscribed vote, and their dissent by a blank .
- In Fortune's lottery lies / A heap of blanks , like this, for one small prize.
- (Nares)
- Let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye.
- I have stood within the blank of his displeasure / For my free speech.
Verb
(en verb)- I blanked out my previous entry.
- She blanked me for no reason.
- The team was blanked .
Usage notes
* Almost any sense of this can occur with (out). See (blank out).Derived terms
* blank canvas * blank check * blank end * blankly * blankness * blank out * blank verse ----futile
English
Adjective
(en adjective)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 .}}