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-adj)

Without use or possibility to be used.

This fork has prongs that are bent. It's useless now.

Unhelpful, not useful; pointless (of an action).

I think it's useless to keep this discussion going. It's like talking to a wall.

I tried my best to make him quit smoking, but my efforts were useless . He now smokes six packs a day.

(pejorative, of a person) good-for-nothing; not dependable.

Bill never mows the lawn, takes out the trash or anything. He's useless , but I love him anyways.

(colloquial, of a person) unable to do well at a particular task or thing. Useless is mildly insulting.

My brother is useless at most computer games, but he is an awesome PS2 player.

Why do you keep trying? You're obviously useless at it.