Fruitlessness: English Vocabulary List

to put effort into doing something unproductive and completely unnecessary

"That is like bringing owls to Athens."

"Exporting wine to France would be like carrying owls to Athens because they produce the best wine themselves already."

to undertake something that is pointless

"Selling ice to Eskimos is taking coals to Newcastle."

"Selling ice to people in Alaska is like taking coals to Newcastle completely pointless and unnecessary."

to pursue a goal or aspiration that is unrealistic or unlikely to be achieved

"Stop chasing rainbows every day."

"He spent years chasing rainbows instead of focusing on realistic and achievable goals."

to completely fail to produce the intended or expected effect

"All our work went for naught."

"Despite months of careful preparation, all their efforts went for naught when the project was cancelled."

to fail to achieve the desired results

"All his plans came to nothing."

"His big dreams of becoming a famous musician came to nothing after his band broke up."

used to refer to something, such as a chance, idea, etc., that has been completely wasted or neglected

"All that money is down the drain."

"All the money we spent on repairs went down the drain when the car broke down again."

to fail to produce or achieve the desired result

"My advice fell on stony ground."

"Her advice fell on stony ground because the teenagers were not interested in listening to any adults."

to fail to achieve success despite the attempts made

"This argument is going nowhere."

"We are getting nowhere with this argument so let us just stop talking about it."

with no success achieved or no progress made

"Going in circles."

"The debate continued in circles, with no one willing to compromise or find a solution."

to engage in a fruitless or pointless activity

"Trying to get blood from a stone is milking a bull."

"Trying to get information from that secretive man is like milking a bull impossible and frustrating."

to waste too much money, resources, or effort on doing something that proves to be unfulfilling in the end

"Paid too dearly for whistle."

"He paid too dearly for his whistle by accepting a low salary for a job that required too much travel and stress."

a pursuit or search for something that is unlikely to produce any useful result

"He sent me on a wild goose chase."

"The police were sent on a wild goose chase by a false report and found nothing at the location."

to come to realize what could have been done to prevent something bad from happening after it has already happened

"Everyone is wise after the event."

"It is easy to be wise after the event but nobody predicted the financial crisis before it happened."

to make an attempt to achieve something that seems extremely difficult or even impossible

"Do not try to boil the ocean."

"The new manager tried to boil the ocean by changing every single process at once which created total chaos."

to engage in a futile or meaningless action in an attempt to resolve a problem or accomplish a task

"Waving a dead chicken."

"His attempt to fix the computer was like waving a dead chicken because he had no idea what he was doing."

to make a fruitless attempt in order to make something look more beautiful or successful

"Put lipstick on a pig."

"The company tried to put lipstick on a pig, but customers still saw the product was poorly designed."

to make a fruitless attempt to solve a problem

"Whistling in the wind."

"His warnings about the danger were just whistling in the wind because nobody took him seriously."

to disagree with or continue arguing about a decision that is already made

"Don't argue the toss."

"The referee made his call, and there's no point in arguing the toss about it now."