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If something is in abeyance, it has been put on hold and is not proceeding or being used at the present time.
An abortive attempt or action is cut short before it is finished; hence, it is unsuccessful.
When you are adept at something, you are very good, skillful, or talented at it.
Someone who is adroit is skillful and clever, especially in thought, behavior, or action.
The adjective auspicious describes a positive beginning of something, such as a new business, or a certain time that looks to have a good chance of success or prosperity.
If someone shows consummate skill at doing something, that person’s skill is very great or almost perfect in every way.
A copious amount of something is a very large amount of it.
When there is a dearth of something, there is a scarcity or lack of it.
If you describe a person, group, or civilization as effete, you mean it is weak, exhausted, powerless, unproductive, and/or corrupt.
Efficacy is the ability or power to produce an expected effect or result.
Someone who is feckless is incompetent and lacks the determination or skill to achieve much of anything at all in life.
If someone, such as a writer, is described as having fecundity, they have the ability to produce many original and different ideas.
A futile attempt at doing something is hopeless and pointless because it simply cannot be accomplished.
A hapless person is unlucky, so much so that a stream of unfortunate things have happened and continue to happen to them.
When someone has an impact on something, they influence or affect it in some way.
When someone implements something, such as a plan, they carry it out or perform it.
Someone who is ineffectual at a task is useless or ineffective when attempting to do it.
Someone who is inept is unable or unsuitable to do a job; hence, they are unfit for it.
If something is infallible, it is never wrong and so is incapable of making mistakes.
Ingenuity in solving a problem is using creativity, intelligence, and cleverness to do so.
Someone who is irresolute is unable to decide what to do.
If you do something in a lackadaisical way, you do it carelessly and without putting much effort into it—thereby showing that you are not really interested in what you’re doing.
If a business is lucrative, it makes a lot of money.
Something that is luxuriant, such as plants or hair, is growing well and is very healthy.
Someone who is meritorious is worthy of receiving recognition or is praiseworthy because of what they have accomplished.
A paucity of something is not enough of it.
If you perpetrate something, you commit a crime or do some other bad thing for which you are responsible.
If you handle something in a pragmatic way, you deal with it in a realistic and practical manner rather than just following unproven theories or ideas.
A profusion of something is a very large quantity or variety of it.
If something proliferates, it grows and spreads quickly so that there is a great abundance of it.
Something or someone that is prolific is highly fruitful and so produces a lot of something.
When things propagate, such as plants, animals, or ideas, they reproduce or generate greater numbers, causing them to spread.
If you have prowess, you possess considerable skill or ability in something.
A seminal article, book, piece of music or other work has many new ideas; additionally, it has great influence on generating ideas for future work.
That which is teeming with something is full of or abounding in it.
Someone who is ungainly is clumsy or awkward; something ungainly can be difficult to use, primarily because of its size or weight.
A utilitarian object is useful, serviceable, and practical—rather than fancy or unnecessary.
Adj.
fruitless
FROOT-lis
Context
In a fruitless attempt to sew a dress, Megan found herself with a tangled mess of material and thread. Tired of fruitless or unsuccessful endeavors with domestic hobbies, she took up horseback riding. However, because her horse would not even move forward one step, she realized that this, too, was a fruitless or pointless undertaking.
Quiz:Try again!
What is a fruitless attempt to earn money?
It is an effort that has always made you a lot of money in the past.
It is a pointless effort that does not earn you any money in the end.
It is an effort that others think will fail but actually earns you money.
No Fruit, No Blessing Just as a fruitless tree is not a blessing, so too is a fruitless endeavor not blessed.
Examples
The motives for the malicious activity known as click fraud vary widely, but the net effect is the same: advertisers end up paying for fruitless web traffic.
—
Wired
The father of one of the Marines killed this week in Iraq said his son felt the U.S. mission was 'a bit fruitless,' because insurgents always returned after the military flushed them out.
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CNN
Mr. Benjedid, who flew from Cairo to Libya tonight, has visited seven Arab countries and Iran in a search, fruitless so far, to find a peaceful way of ending Iraq’s seizure of Kuwait.
—
The New York Times
A fruitless endeavor is “lacking in fruit or enjoyment” because it is unsuccessful.
Word Theater
Good Morning America A fruitless search for the garments of a missing girl.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!