meaningless

adjective

ˈmē-niŋ-ləs How to pronounce meaningless (audio)
Definition of meaninglessnext
as in pointless
having no meaning this argument over seating arrangements is an utterly meaningless bit of nonsense

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of meaningless Hours before the Yankees’ meaningless 9-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, reporters swarmed Anthony Volpe’s locker as he was seen taking grounders at third base. — James O'Connell, New York Daily News, 23 Sep. 2026 The question as to whether an object is moving or stationary in itself is meaningless. — Literary Hub, 21 Sep. 2026 Having a talent advantage is meaningless if the Horned Frogs aren’t focused on the opponent directly in front of them. — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 18 Sep. 2026 Yearly stats just smoothes everything out to a more meaningless middle. — Michael Salfino, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for meaningless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for meaningless
  1. pointless
  2. absurd
  3. stupid
  4. inane
  5. silly
  6. irrational
  7. empty
  8. foolish
Adjective
  • Jo, who is still desperately trying to earn her orange back, and more power to her, brings Alexis over to Heather for another pointless conversation.
    — Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Storming a podium at a meeting of academics is a pointless performative act.
    — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of pointless
Adjective
  • Alongside Kardashian, Watts, Nash-Betts and Paulson, the series stars Teyana Taylor, Matthew Noszka and Glenn Close, who all one-up each other with deliriously absurd lines of dialogue.
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The title comes from a phrase that became part of his creative vocabulary and began appearing in sketches whenever an absurd situation called for a perfectly incredulous response.
    — Preezy Brown, VIBE.com, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of absurd
Adjective
  • Trump’s super intelligence rebrand can ultimately be read in a couple ways, though arguably neither are particularly nuanced or incisive — just further indicative of the daily deluge of stupid.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Once upon a time, the idea that the world was growing stupider was mostly confined to the realm of dyspeptic reactionary polemic.
    — James Marriott, Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of stupid
Adjective
  • Interjecting the bidding with inane questions or other comments about other managers’ rosters or the errant wisdom of their previous bids is highly encouraged to distract other bidders or disrupt any manager counting down in their heads.
    — Sports Betting, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The solutions being proposed and inane rhetoric from people such as Johnson are just massaging the symptoms rather than dealing with the real problems.
    — Ronald J. Allen, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2026
Definition of inane
Adjective
  • With so many of its procedural plots echoing and sometimes directly referencing real-world events, Cupertino is more substantive and less inherently silly than Elsbeth.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026
  • Almost sounds silly now, with the way the team has stumbled and bumbled its way through the first four games.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of silly
Adjective
  • The industrial revolutions of the past produced enormous value alongside bankruptcies, dislocations, and periods of irrational exuberance.
    — Brian Solis, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026
  • If anyone can reconstruct Apéry’s reasoning, the odd values of zeta may finally be proven irrational.
    — Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of irrational
Adjective
  • Almost every house was then surrounded by adjacent empty lots that had been seized to ensure that no one else would build.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Oct. 2026
  • The paper towel dispenser was empty for the market’s employee restroom.
    — Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of empty
Adjective
  • Soaking the suburbs over parking is reminiscent of other foolish, revenue-grabbing ideas, such as a congestion tax aimed at outsiders as a way to gin up money to cover Chicago’s ever-present budget black hole.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026
  • With Oracle having lost more than $20 billion in stock-market value today, this appears to be penny-wise and pound foolish.
    — Liz Hoffman, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of foolish

Browse Nearby Words

meaningfulness
meaningless
meaninglessly
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Meaningless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/meaningless. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

The Words of the Week - Oct. 9

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a cup of tea and a golf ball on tee side by side
Quiz: Sounds Like... Choose the word that sounds like it fits the clue...
See All