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Definition of "ineffectual" []

  • Insufficient to produce a desired effect: an ineffectual effort to block the legislation. (adjective)
  • Useless; worthless: an ineffectual treatment for cancer. (adjective)
  • Lacking forcefulness or effectiveness; weak: an ineffectual ruler. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "ineffectual" in a sentence
  • "Walter Bassett broke out in ineffectual protest, but was swiftly silenced by the threat of a lunacy commission."
  • "Then when the Mexicans fired off a few rockets at us in ineffectual retaliation, with negligible damage to us, we would then have responded with a massive bombing campaign against Mexican civilian infrastructure, killing a hundred or more Mexicans to every one American killed."
  • "Of course the Résistance was militarily ineffectual from a conventional standpoint: It was a guerrilla movement, with a large civil component that emphasised civil desobedience and sabotage."