Standard Lemma guide

vain

adj · noun · verb · 8 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.

  • vān
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /veɪn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Scotland: /ven/
  • Wales: /vein/ without the pane–pain merger
  • homophone: vein
  • homophone: vane (pane–pain merger)
  • rhymes with -eɪn
  • CMU ARPABET: V EY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: conceited, flatulent, puffed up, inflated, airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, disdainful, domineering, egotistical, entitled, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overbearing, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: idle, valueless, base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile, frivolous, ignorable, immaterial, inconsequential, inconsiderable, indifferent, insignificant, like a fart in a windstorm, meager, mean, minor, miserable, negligible, nothingburger, nondescript, null, paltry, petty, picayune, picayunish, piddling, piddly, pissant, pissass, piteous, pitiful, pointless, silly, simple, slight, ticky-tacky, tin-pot, trifling, trivial, two-bit, unimportant, unweighty, vain, worthless, wretched, bastardly, blown, cacky, chaffy, cocking, crapalicious, cruddy, cullionly, draffish, draffy, dreckish, drecky, duffing, fucking, garbagey, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, goodless, ineffectual, invaluable, jabberwocky, junky, mouldy, mucid, naughty, no-account, no good / no-good, nonvaluable, not worth a damn, not worth a dime, not worth a plug nickel, not worth a brass farthing, not worth a cent, not worth a cress, not worth a curse, not worth a Continental, not worth a farthing, not worth hell room, not worth a nickel, not worth a penny, not worth salt, not worth a whistle, nought, of no value, punk, putid, rubbishly, rubbishy, sixpenny, scabbed, screwy, scummy, shand, shit, shitey, shitstained, shitty-ass, sorry-ass, strawlike, suckworthy, tenth-rate, toshy, trinkety, triobolar, tripy, unappreciated, unvaluable, worth nothing, wutless

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • vain toil a vain attempt

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pointless, futile, fruitless, ineffectual, bootless, barren, sterile, gainless, idle, inane, inefficacious, inutile, no good, otiose, profitless, purposeless, tired, unavailing, unprofitable, unuseful, unutilizable, useless, vain, void

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Showy; ostentatious.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brash, pizazzy, bedizened, blatant, blingish, campy, catchpenny, chichi, chintzy, corny, crass, crude, flashy, flaunting, florid, flossy, froufrou, garish, gauche, gaudy, gay, glaring, gross, gussied up, hideous, kitsch, kitschy, loud, meretricious, naff, obtrusive, ostentatious, pretentious, ritzy, raffish, schlocky, showy, snazzy, splendiferous, tacky, tasteless, tawdry, tinselly, too much, trinkety, unbecoming, untasteful, vain, whorish, zesty

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Acronym of vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, acronym, alt-of

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

verb

Meaning 6

To frustrate.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, obsolete, rare, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adjective satellite

Meaning 7

unproductive of success

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a fruitless search
  • futile years after her artistic peak
  • a sleeveless errand
  • a vain attempt

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bootless, fruitless, futile, sleeveless

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a conceited fool
  • an attitude of self-conceited arrogance
  • an egotistical disregard of others
  • so swollen by victory that he was unfit for normal duty
  • growing ever more swollen-headed and arbitrary
  • vain about her clothes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: conceited, egotistic, egotistical, self-conceited, swollen, swollen-headed

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus (“empty”).

A conversion of the adjectival form of vain. The only use of this verb in English appears c. 1628 in the writings of Owen Felltham.

Across languages

Translations

136 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: սնապարծ (snaparc) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Azerbaijani: şöhrətpərəst — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Bulgarian: суетен (sueten) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Bulgarian: тщеславен (tšteslaven) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Catalan: vanitós — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 虛榮 /虚荣 (xūróng) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Danish: forfængelig — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Dutch: ijdel — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Esperanto: vanta — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Finnish: turhamainen — overly proud of one's appearance
  • French: vaniteux — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Galician: vaidoso — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Georgian: ფუქსავატი (puksavaṭi) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Georgian: თავმომწონე (tavmomc̣one) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Georgian: პატივმოყვარე (ṗaṭivmoq̇vare) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • German: eitel — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Greek: ματαιόδοξος (mataiódoxos) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Hebrew: גאוותן (ga'avtán) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Hungarian: hiú — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Hungarian: öntelt — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Hungarian: önelégült — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Hungarian: beképzelt — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Ido: vanitatoza — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Irish: arduallach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Irish: mustrach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Irish: díomasach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Italian: vanitoso — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Italian: vanesio — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Kabuverdianu: janóta — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Kabuverdianu: bazófu — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Kabuverdianu: bazofe — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Kabuverdianu: intxide — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Ladin: sabe — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Māori: whakapehapeha — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Māori: whakahīhī — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: jålete — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: forfengeleg — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Persian: ایفده (ifode) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Polish: próżny — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Portuguese: vaidoso — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Portuguese: vão — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Russian: тщесла́вный (tščeslávnyj) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Russian: показно́й (pokaznój) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Scottish Gaelic: mòr às — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Scottish Gaelic: sgòideasach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Scottish Gaelic: sgòideil — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Scottish Gaelic: uaibhreach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Scottish Gaelic: uailleach — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Spanish: vanidoso — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Swedish: fåfäng — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Ukrainian: марносла́вний (marnoslávnyj) — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Welsh: balch — overly proud of one's appearance
  • Armenian: դատարկ (datark) — based on very little substance
  • Azerbaijani: puç — based on very little substance
  • Azerbaijani: boş — based on very little substance
  • Azerbaijani: əbəs — based on very little substance
  • Azerbaijani: nahaq — based on very little substance
  • Azerbaijani: bihudə — based on very little substance
  • Bulgarian: празен (prazen) — based on very little substance
  • Bulgarian: безсъдържателен (bezsǎdǎržatelen) — based on very little substance
  • Catalan: va — based on very little substance
  • Danish: overfladisk — based on very little substance
  • Esperanto: vanta — based on very little substance
  • Finnish: turha — based on very little substance
  • French: frivole — based on very little substance
  • Georgian: ცარიელი (carieli) — based on very little substance
  • Georgian: ამაო (amao) — based on very little substance
  • Georgian: ფუჭი (puč̣i) — based on very little substance
  • Hindi: तुच्छ (tucch) — based on very little substance
  • Hungarian: alaptalan — based on very little substance
  • Hungarian: üres — based on very little substance
  • Norwegian: overfladisk — based on very little substance
  • Portuguese: vazio — based on very little substance
  • Russian: пусто́й (pustój) — based on very little substance
  • Russian: беспло́дный (besplódnyj) — based on very little substance
  • Sanskrit: तुच्छ (tuccha) — based on very little substance
  • Scottish Gaelic: faoin — based on very little substance
  • Armenian: ունայն (unayn) — pointless, futile
  • Azerbaijani: nahaq — pointless, futile
  • Azerbaijani: əbəs — pointless, futile
  • Azerbaijani: boş — pointless, futile
  • Azerbaijani: puç — pointless, futile
  • Azerbaijani: bihudə — pointless, futile
  • Bulgarian: напразен (naprazen) — pointless, futile
  • Bulgarian: безполезен (bezpolezen) — pointless, futile
  • Catalan: va — pointless, futile
  • Chinese Mandarin: 白白 (báibái) — pointless, futile
  • Chinese Mandarin: 徒然 (túrán) — pointless, futile
  • Chinese Mandarin: 徒勞 /徒劳 (túláo) — pointless, futile
  • Czech: marný — pointless, futile
  • Danish: forgæves — pointless, futile
  • Dutch: nutteloos — pointless, futile
  • Dutch: tevergeefs — pointless, futile
  • Esperanto: vana — pointless, futile
  • Finnish: turha — pointless, futile
  • Finnish: tyhjä — pointless, futile
  • Finnish: hyödytön — pointless, futile
  • French: vain — pointless, futile
  • French: futile — pointless, futile
  • Georgian: ამაო (amao) — pointless, futile
  • Georgian: ფუჭი (puč̣i) — pointless, futile
  • German: unnütz — pointless, futile
  • German: vergeblich — pointless, futile
  • Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌺𐍃 (halks) — pointless, futile
  • Greek: μάταιος (mátaios) — pointless, futile
  • Ancient Greek: ἀποφώλιος (apophṓlios) — pointless, futile
  • Ancient Greek: μάταιος (mátaios) — pointless, futile
  • Ancient Greek: τηΰσιος ψαινύθιος (tēǘsios) — pointless, futile
  • Hebrew: חסר תועלת (khasár to'élet) — pointless, futile
  • Hindi: व्यर्थ (vyarth) — pointless, futile
  • Hungarian: hiábavaló — pointless, futile
  • Hungarian: céltalan — pointless, futile
  • Hungarian: hiú — pointless, futile
  • Hungarian: felesleges — pointless, futile
  • Irish: in aisce — pointless, futile
  • Irish: amú — pointless, futile
  • Old Irish: madae — pointless, futile
  • Old Irish: madach — pointless, futile
  • Italian: vano — pointless, futile
  • Latin: vānus — pointless, futile
  • Latin: cassus — pointless, futile
  • Eastern Mari: арам (aram) — pointless, futile
  • Khiamniungan Naga: yâng — pointless, futile
  • Norwegian Bokmål: forgjeves — pointless, futile
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: forgjeves — pointless, futile
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fåfengd — pointless, futile
  • Portuguese: vão — pointless, futile
  • Russian: тще́тный (tščétnyj) — pointless, futile
  • Russian: напра́сный (naprásnyj) — pointless, futile
  • Russian: су́етный (sújetnyj) — pointless, futile
  • Scottish Gaelic: faoin — pointless, futile
  • Spanish: vano — pointless, futile
  • Spanish: vacuo — pointless, futile
  • Swedish: fåfäng — pointless, futile
  • Welsh: gwag — pointless, futile
  • Welsh: ofer — pointless, futile