Adjective

(en adjective)

Useless; unproductive.

The unskilled man's attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless .

{{quote-Fanny Hill, part=2 , At length, after repeated fruitless trials, he lay down panting by me, kiss'd my falling tears, and asked me tenderly what was the meaning of so much complaining? }}

Bearing no fruit; barren.

The fruitless woman desperately wanted to have children.

(rare) Without fruit.

* 1923 , The Homestead (issues 386-410, page 33)

The first fruits of the season were eagerly sought after, and everybody was thankful that once more dread winter with its unvarying monotony of fruitless meals was a thing of the past.

* 1966 , Joseph Irving Goodman, Diet and live (page 14)

the many individual claims as to the ideal diet , for instance, the high-carbohydrate diet, the milkless diet, the breadless diet, the meatless diet, the fruit diet or the fruitless diet, the high-protein or the low-protein diet, and innumerable variations.

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 .}}