Futile — A Vocabulary Story
Aksel Versus the Sea
Aksel had built the finest sandcastle on the whole beach. It had four towers, a moat, and a flag made from a lolly stick. There was just one problem: the tide was coming in.
"Fighting the sea is futile," said his big sister Freya, licking her ice cream. "It always wins."
Futile means incapable of producing any useful result; pointless; having no purpose or effect.
"Not today," said Aksel, rolling up his sleeves like a tiny general.
He dug a trench. The sea filled it. He built a wall. The sea flattened it. He scooped water away with his bucket, flinging it back at the waves, but the waves simply sent it home again with extra foam on top.
Dad wandered over, munching a biscuit. "You do know this is completely futile, don't you? That's the entire ocean, Aksel. You have a small yellow bucket."
"The bucket believes in me," Aksel puffed.
He tried standing in front of the castle with his arms stretched wide. A wave tickled straight past his ankles and nibbled off a tower. Freya snorted so hard her ice cream wobbled dangerously.
By the time the moat became a swimming pool and the flag floated away like a little boat, even Aksel had to admit the futility of his one-boy war against the Atlantic.
So he changed sides. He leapt into the waves, whooping, and let the sea have its victory.
"Tomorrow," he told Freya, dripping happily, "I'm building it further up the beach."
"Now that," she said, "is not futile at all."
Word Definition
futile
meaning
incapable of producing any useful result; pointless; having no purpose or effect; trivial
synonyms
pointless · useless · vain · fruitless · ineffective
antonyms
useful · effective · fruitful · productive
example sentence
It was futile to argue with him once he had made up his mind.