meaningless

/ˈminɪŋlɪs/

/ˈminɪŋlɪs/

Other forms: meaninglessly

If something's meaningless, it has no real value, purpose, or significance. If someone repeatedly hurts your feelings and casually says they're sorry, you might feel like the apology is meaningless.

Words in a book will be meaningless to you if they're written in a language you don't understand, and the small talk you engage in when you run into an acquaintance at the supermarket is often meaningless too. You can probably think of rules that don't have any good reason behind them, and these are also meaningless. When something is important to you, it has meaning — and when it's not, it's meaningless.

Definitions of meaningless

1. adjective

   having no meaning or direction or purpose
   “a meaningless endeavor”

   “a meaningless life”

   “a verbose but meaningless explanation”

   synonyms: nonmeaningful

   unimportant

   not important

   empty, hollow, vacuous

   devoid of significance or point

   insignificant

   signifying nothing

   mindless

   lacking the thinking capacity characteristic of a conscious being

   nonsense, nonsensical

   having no intelligible meaning

   purposeless

   not evidencing any purpose or goal

   insignificant, unimportant

   devoid of importance, meaning, or force

   antonyms:

   meaningful

   having a meaning or purpose

   meaty, substantive

   being on topic and prompting thought

   meaning, pregnant, significant

   rich in significance or implication

   purposeful

   having meaning through having an aim

   purposeful

   serving as or indicating the existence of a purpose or goal

   important, significant

   important in effect or meaning