pointlesslyadv.
/ˈpɔɪntlᵻsli/, U.S. /ˈpɔɪn(t)lᵻsli/ In a pointless manner.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > [adverb]
unsignificantly1644
insignificantly1651
unmeaningly1733
triflingly1759
inexpressively1823
meaninglessly1823
pointlessly1827
1827 Times 9 Nov. 2 It [sc. the article] is a characteristic specimen of civic jocularity, laboriously comical, and pointlessly satirical.
1845 Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 339 Would not the jest fall as pointlessly upon the ears of the table, as..the best witticism, that ever sparkled in the pages of Joe Miller?
1925 G. K. Chesterton Everlasting Man Introd. 6 It would be more philosophical to stare indifferently at bonzes than to be perpetually and pointlessly grumbling at bishops.
1955 G. Grigson Englishman's Flora 135 There has always been argument, rather pointlessly, about the identity of shamrock, whether it was clover, and which clover, or whether it was wood-sorrel.
1995 New Yorker 6 Mar. 8/3 One needn't be a defender of pointlessly burdensome regulations to doubt the wisdom of taking a chain saw to the whole body of health and safety rules.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1827