bootless

adj.
Without advantage or benefit; useless. See synonyms at futile.

[BOOT² + -LESS.]

bootlessly boot'less·ly adv.

(BOOT-lis)

adjective
Useless; unsuccessful, unprofitable.

Etymology
From Old English botleas, from Old English bot (advantage) + less, from Old English laes (without)

Usage
"Unfortunately, even the persistent efforts made by the Government and the RBI over the last decade to improve the flow of institutional credit to this sector have proved bootless." — Ad-hocism Continues; Businessline (Chennai, India); Sep 4, 2000.

"In 1981 came 'Philosophical Explanations', which contains a famous chapter asking a seemingly bootless question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing?'" — Robert Nozick; Books And Arts: Not All Words Need Be Last Words; The Economist (London, UK); Feb 2, 2002.

---

adjective

Having no useful result: barren, fruitless, futile, unavailing, unprofitable, unsuccessful, useless, vain. Idioms: in vain. See thrive/fail/exist, used/unused.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has one meaning:

Meaning #1: unproductive of success
  Synonyms: fruitless, futile, sleeveless, vain

---

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - forgæves, nyttesløs, frugtesløs

Nederlands (Dutch)
nutteloos

Français (French)
adj. - sans bottes, infructueux

Deutsch (German)
adj. - nutzlos, ohne Stiefel

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - ανώφελος, μάταιος

Italiano (Italian)
vano

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - inútil

Русский (Russian)
тщетный, бесполезный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - inútil, vano

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - fruktlös, till ingen nytta

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
不穿鞋的, 无用的, 无利可图的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 不穿鞋的, 無用的, 無利可圖的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 무익한, 쓸모없는

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 無益な, 無駄な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) حافي القدمين, دون جدوى‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מיותר, חסר תועלת‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.