different between inefficient vs fruitless

English

Etymology

in- +? efficient

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.??f??.?nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

inefficient (comparative more inefficient, superlative most inefficient)

1. Not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired; inefficacious

   Celery is an inefficient food.

2. Incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action; habitually slack or unproductive; effecting little or nothing
   • 1987, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address January 17, 1987

     The Defense Department, for example, has greatly expanded competitive bidding and is this year submitting to Congress the first-ever 2-year defense budget to replace the old, inefficient, year-by-year process.

   Jessica was terribly inefficient at cleaning, so her brother usually had to clean the whole room.

Antonyms

• efficient

Translations

Noun

inefficient (plural inefficients)

1. A person who cannot or does not work efficiently.
   • 1889, New York (State). Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report (part 2, page 127)

     Two men were put to work who could not set their looms; a third man was taken on who helped the inefficients to set the looms. The other weavers thought this was a breach of their union rules and 18 of them struck […]

   • 1903, Jack London, The People of the Abyss Chapter 17

     A general shaking up of the workers from top to bottom would result; and when equilibrium had been restored, the number of the inefficients at the bottom of the Abyss would have been increased by hundreds of thousands.

English

Etymology

From fruit +? -less. Compare Middle English withouten fruyt (“fruitless”, literally “without fruit”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f?u?tl?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?f?utl?s/
• Hyphenation: fruit?less

Adjective

fruitless (comparative more fruitless, superlative most fruitless)

1. Bearing no fruit; barren.
2. (figuratively) Unproductive, useless.
3. (figuratively, archaic) Of a person: unable to have children; barren, infertile.
4. (rare) Of a diet, etc.: without fruit.

Alternative forms

• fruitlesse (obsolete)

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:futile

Antonyms

• fruitful
• (unproductive): effective, efficacious, productive, useful

Derived terms

• fruitlessly
• fruitlessness

Translations

Anagrams

• resistful