- 1not useful; not doing or achieving what is needed or wanted This pen is useless. useless (to do something) He knew it was useless to protest. useless (doing something) It's useless worrying about it. The quality ranged from acceptable to worse than useless. She tried to work, but it was useless (= she wasn't able to). opposite useful
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- 2useless (at something/at doing something) (informal) not very good at something; not able to do things well I'm useless at French. Don't ask her to help. She's useless.
adverb His arm hung uselessly at his side (= it was injured and he could not move it).
noun [uncountable]See useless in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Check pronunciation: useless