as in aimless
having or seeming to have no purpose or reason
I have to go to another purposeless meeting tonight. purposeless suffering
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Recent Examples of purposeless
Marine biologists had thought that the pelvic bones were purposeless in the marine environment, and would eventually disappear given another million or so years of evolution.
—
Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
But here’s a question: How much longer can the country afford to lure so many of its promising talents into a life of purposeless paper-pushing and legalized economic vandalism that antitrust has become?
—Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
Religion gives meaning to human lives, which otherwise can feel purposeless.
—WSJ, 21 Dec. 2021
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Carl Engelking, Discover Magazine, 9 Sep. 2014
But here’s a question: How much longer can the country afford to lure so many of its promising talents into a life of purposeless paper-pushing and legalized economic vandalism that antitrust has become?
—Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 10 May 2022
Religion gives meaning to human lives, which otherwise can feel purposeless.
—WSJ, 21 Dec. 2021
In How To Do Nothing, Jenny Odell talks about how the pursuit of productivity — driven by capitalism, competition, and consumption — has redirected our attention outward, leaving us feeling empty and purposeless.
—refinery29.com, 7 Sep. 2021
Although gender is effectively purposeless—if not irrelevant—in gaming, my brothers reflected society's obsession with forcing others to choose between pink or blue.
—Jamie Valentino, Wired, 22 June 2021
These protests are nearly all disingenuous, false and specious, and meant to utilize fear to continue a tragic and purposeless war.
—Matthew Hoh, CNN, 17 May 2021
In Mazars, Trump may yet be able to convince the lower courts that Congress’s rationale for seeking his financial records is too broad, too partisan, or too purposeless.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 July 2020
Well, given the malignant chaos of a purposeless universe, what’s one little false allegation in the scheme of things?
—USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for purposeless
Adjective
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Oh, the delicious irony of Mr. Only the Ivies Count Lest Your Child Fail to Launch having a daughter who’s in an aimless 19th month of a gap year between high school and college.—
Sophie Brookover,
Vulture,
21 Feb. 2025
-
The aimless adventure of a young kid crisscrossing the city at all hours of the day and night resonated deeply with me as an adolescent.—
Juliana Barbassa,
New York Times,
19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
If Missouri were to abolish state income taxes, tax credits would become meaningless.—
Jeremy Kohler,
ProPublica,
5 Mar. 2025
-
Xavier is headed out of the silo Xavier was always going to leave the silo to try to find his wife, despite a brief tryst with Sinatra's therapist, Dr. Gabriela Torabi (Sarah Shahi), that wound up being meaningless from both a plot and character perspective.—
Eliana Dockterman,
TIME,
4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
The fantastical final product looks haphazard and far from realistic, but serves as a manifestation of their unattainable desires — which includes whitening their skin and erasing all facial blemishes.—
Carlos Aguilar,
IndieWire,
8 Mar. 2025
-
These are professionals at work here, and yet the staging of virtually every kinetic showstopper feels haphazard at best.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
6 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
The cab driver suffered minor back and neck injuries in the crash and claimed Zangrilli was drunk but the responding officer sent the inspector on his way, telling the cabbie to file an accident report at an NYPD precinct.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
4 Mar. 2025
-
According to a statement from the Danville Police Department, the drivers of both vehicles suffered minor injuries, while two other passengers in the truck were unhurt.—
Rick Hurd,
The Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
But these little twinges the audience might feel about everyone being mortal only added, if anything, to the evening’s personal potency, and the vitality of a reconvening of the tribe that supported the Wilson sisters from the outset, along with strays picked up during the MTV years.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
7 Mar. 2025
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The order’s vague framework has sparked concerns, particularly as Trump’s March 7, 2025, Crypto Summit is set to feature a narrow circle of industry elites, with little representation from diverse perspectives or consumer advocates.—
Tonya M. Evans,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Those assets are useless on a device like the Deck, and take up unnecessary space.—
Jason Evangelho,
Forbes,
6 Mar. 2025
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In stereotypical rich-TV-family fashion, the ultimate symbol of Baba’s success is that both of his sons are sort of useless.—
Angie Han,
The Hollywood Reporter,
5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Trump might still engage in gratuitous protectionism and pick pointless diplomatic squabbles.—
HAL BRANDS,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
-
Slavin was pointless in the tournament but his steady pairing with Brock Faber of the Minnesota Wild was effective and reliable during an event when every team was rolling out dangerous scorers on every line.—
Carol Schram,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Freud’s notion of remembering, the inexact reiteration of what came before, is where creativity emerges—that slight drift from the original that lets something unlikely slip in.—
Namwali Serpell,
The New Yorker,
8 Mar. 2025
-
Sugarcane honey is a concentrated form of sugarcane juice that has a slight licorice taste and a touch of bitterness.—
Joseph V Micallef,
Forbes,
8 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Purposeless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/purposeless. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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