Standard Lemma guide

fruitlessly

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F R UW1 T L AH0 S L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a fruitless manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

in an unproductive manner

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unproductively, unprofitably

Antonyms: fruitfully

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English fruitless Middle English -ly English -ly English fruitlessly From fruitless + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Latin: nēquīquam — in a fruitless manner
  • Polish: bezowocnie — in a fruitless manner
  • Spanish: infructuosamente — in a fruitless manner