Word of the Day：October 16, 2020
futile
徒然的；徒勞的；無效的
adjective FYOO-tul
Definition
1 ： serving no useful purpose ： completely ineffective
無意義的意圖：完全沒有用的
2 ： occupied with trifles ： frivolous
被無聊的瑣事佔據：無趣的
Examples
"Austin Rivers … played a role in the fourth-quarter comeback attempt that proved futile." — Reuters, 11 Sept. 2020
「奧斯汀裡弗斯……在第四季度的復出中嘗試發揮，但被證明為徒勞的。
"… anyone who's ever traded in the familiar role of wedding guest for the alien role of wedding focal point will know how futile an effort it is to remember events clearly. At this point, the night lives on for me through the colors in my brain and the considerably more reliable memories in the photographs." — Daniel Riley, GQ, 22 July 2020
Did You Know?
Futile broke into 16th-century English as a Latinate borrowing from Middle French. The Latin derivative, fūtilis, was used to describe things that are brittle or fragile and, by extension, things serving no purpose or being pointless. These meanings survive in the English futile, which denotes ineffectiveness or frivolousness. In 1827, English author Robert Southey found use for the word by blending it into utilitarian to form futilitarian, a word that is used for anyone who believes that human striving is futile—that is, ineffective and/or frivolous.
Futile借拉丁語從中古法語中借入而成為16世紀的英語。 拉丁衍生詞 fūtilis 用來描述易碎或易碎的東西，並且從廣義上講是無用或毫無意義的東西。 這些含義保留在英語的 futile 中，表示 ineffectiveness or frivolousness。 1827年，英國作家羅伯特·索瑟（Robert Southey）通過將其混入utilitarian「功利主義者」而形成的 futilitarian「悲觀主義者」，發現了該詞的用法，該詞被用於任何認為人類的努力是徒勞的，that is, ineffective 「無效的」and/or frivolous「輕浮的」。
Name That Synonym
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