in vain - Longman Dictionary

in vain meaning, definition, what is in vain: without success in spite of your efforts...: Learn more. invainFromLongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglishinvaininvaina)FAILwithoutsuccessinspiteofyourefforts  Policesearchedinvainforthemissinggunman.b)withoutpurposeorwithoutpositiveresults  Altmansworethathisson’sdeathwouldnotbeinvain.→takesomebody’snameinvain→vainExamplesfromtheCorpusinvain•Ifpeopledon'tlearnfromthis,thenhissufferinganddeathwereinvain.•Ittookagreatdealofcouragetoadmitthatallhereffortshadbeeninvain.•Policehavespenthourssearchinginvainforthemissingteenager.•Workerstriedinvaintokeepthebuildingfromcollapsing.•Doctorstriedinvaintosavehimbuthediedjustbeforedawn. Quizzes Quizzes Takeourquickquizzestopractiseyourvocabulary. Wehavethousandsofsix-questionquizzestotry. Choosefromcollocations,synonyms,phrasalverbsandmore. Moreresults takesomebody’snameinvain Seeallresults Picturesoftheday Whatarethese? Clickonthepicturestocheck. Exploretopics Archaeology Geography Occult Officials Seealltopics Wordoftheday fray ifclothorothermaterialfrays,orifsomethingfraysit,thethreadsbecomeloosebecausethematerialisold