How to Use futility in a Sentence

futility

noun
  • In the predawn dark, Magdy Gamal sat in the bridge of the Mosaed 2 and stared up at an iron wall of futility.
    — Washington Post, 31 Mar. 2021
  • Might have been the low point of the AFC’s 13-year stretch of super futility.
    — Kevin Cusick, Twin Cities, 8 May 2017
  • The Jets’ record of futility is, in fact, a matter of record.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Apr. 2021
  • Their futility, of course, pales next to that of the Cubs, who have not won a World Series since 1908.
    — Billy Witz, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2016
  • The futility of that ballclub is what sparked the rebuild that’s led to now.
    — Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun, 28 Mar. 2024
  • Being on the wrong end of a 40-point run was an NCAA record for futility.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 15 Jan. 2021
  • That’s a lot of futility for one team to absorb in one day.
    — Charles Odum, Chicago Tribune, 15 June 2025
  • Life, for him, was a form of theater, a game doomed to futility.
    — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 31 July 2019
  • The guards were clearly trying to make sense of the team’s futility.
    — C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 20 Jan. 2024
  • The Rapids might not set historic marks for futility in terms of points earned.
    — Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes, 16 July 2023
  • Such futility simply cannot be with a unit that boasts Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin off the edges.
    — Andy Benoit, SI.com, 18 June 2018
  • The job-changing trend has revived a debate about the futility of the rat race.
    — Zixu Wang, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2023
  • Rather than giving in to a sense of futility, ask for help.
    — Tribune Content Agency, oregonlive, 18 Aug. 2020
  • Which speaks to the utter futility of choosing not to have published the emails.
    — Andrew Wallenstein, Variety, 11 Dec. 2024
  • In the Modern Era (since 1900), the Rockies stand alone in their futility.
    — Patrick Saunders, Denver Post, 15 May 2025
  • Change takes time, though not winning a statewide race since 1994 is a long record of futility.
    — Dallas News, 1 Mar. 2021
  • Jorge Soler will put an end to that streak of futility in 2024.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Past futility The Raptors have lost eight straight playoff games to the Cavs over the past three seasons.
    — Zachariah Durr, cleveland.com, 3 May 2018
  • But how? Bryant filed a grievance against the Cubs over his service-time issue and lost the case, proving the futility of the process.
    — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 1 Dec. 2020
  • The Browns, after years of futility, reached the playoffs last season and even won a game there.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Oct. 2021
  • Both are franchise records for futility and were set in this game.
    — David Moore, Dallas News, 27 Dec. 2020
  • In his 2002 visit, Kevin Fedarko was struck by both the beauty of the Himalayan mountains and the futility of the conflict.
    — Frank Matt, Longreads, 19 May 2017
  • But the two forged a closeness amid their club’s futility.
    — Fabian Ardaya, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
  • But the two forged a closeness amid their club’s futility.
    — Fabian Ardaya, The Athletic, 26 Feb. 2025
  • But the Phillies’ futility stands out as a mini-slump at the worst possible time.
    — Photographs By Doug Mills, New York Times, 4 Nov. 2022
  • The Wolves were outscored by 18, a backbreaking run of offensive futility that cost the team the game.
    — Jon Krawczynski, The Athletic, 3 Jan. 2025
  • The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and tragically dies, to make a point about the futility of the American Dream.
    — Riane Konc, The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2020
  • Oakland has not endured such a streak of futility against one team in more than a decade.
    — Matt Kawahara, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Sep. 2021
  • Clifford got Charlotte to the playoffs twice and broke a number of the team’s records for futility.
    — Scott Fowler, charlotteobserver, 13 Apr. 2018
  • Barring some act of G-d, one team was going to break their streak and go home happy; and one team’s futility would continue for at least another game.
    — Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'futility.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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