meaninglessadj.
/ˈmiːnɪŋlᵻs/, U.S. /ˈminɪŋlᵻs/ Without meaning or signification; devoid of expression; without purpose; (Philosophy) not amenable to interpretation or logical processing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > [adjective]
emptya1225
sleevelessc1450
dumb1531
insensible1538
senseless1579
weetless1579
unsignificant1603
surd1605
matterless1612
unmeaning1632
non-significative1633
brute1642
shelly1648
insignificant1651
insignificative1660
unsignificative1664
unsignifying1665
unsensed1667
meaningless1728
bilka1734
meanless1734
inexpressive1744
unideal1751
unexpressive1755
idealess1793
unsuggestive1797
tenorless1821
themeless1840
nonsensible1851
inarticulate1855
purportless1865
expressionless1871
vacuous1872
contentless1886
unmeaningful1897
1728 J. Thomson Spring 51 He..pours His sweetly-tortur'd Heart into the Page Meant for the moving Messenger of Love. But ah how faint, how meaningless, and poor To what his Passion swells!
1796 C. Lamb Let. 9 Dec. in Lett. C. & M. A. Lamb (1975) I. 75 Ill digested meaning-less remarks.
1810 R. Southey Curse of Kehama xvi. 177 Rayless eyes..Glaz'd, fix'd, and meaningless.
1876 H. R. F. Bourne Life J. Locke II. x. 138 Locke had a healthy contempt for the meaningless definitions..of the scholastic writers.
1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. xvi. 676 He learned lists of meaningless syllables by heart.
1934 M. R. Cohen & E. Nagel Introd. Logic ix. 185 It has been said that of the two alternatives true and false, there is a third, the meaningless.
1952 P. Tillich Courage to Be iv. 94 The terror of the totalitarian state would be meaningless without the possibility of producing terror in its subjects.
1986 P. D. James Taste for Death ii. i. 106 Mysticism, in particular, is as meaningless to me as music must be to the tone deaf.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1728