nugatory

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: nu=ga=to=ry

CIDE DICTIONARY

nugatory, a. [L. nugatorius, fr. nugari to trifle, nugae jests, trifles.].

•  Trifling; vain; futile; insignificant.  [1913 Webster]
•  Of no force; inoperative; ineffectual.  [1913 Webster]

  "If all are pardoned, and pardoned as a mere act of clemency, the very substance of government is made nugatory."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

nugatory, adj.
1 futile, trifling, worthless.
2 inoperative; not valid.

Etymology

L nugatorius f. nugari to trifle f. nugae jests

THESAURUS

nugatory

NG, airy, asinine, barren, bootless, catchpenny, cheap, counterproductive, effete, empty, etiolated, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flimsy, foolish, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, futile, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, hollow, idle, inadequate, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inoperative, invalid, junk, junky, light, no-account, no-good, not worth having, not worth mentioning, not worthwhile, nugacious, of no force, otiose, shabby, shallow, shoddy, silly, slender, slight, sterile, superficial, trashy, trifling, trite, trivial, unavailing, useless, vacuous, vain, valueless, vapid, windy, worthless

ROGET THESAURUS

nugatory

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Impotence

N impotence, inability, disability, disablement, impuissance, imbecility, incapacity, incapability, inaptitude, ineptitude, incompetence, unproductivity, indocility, invalidity, disqualification, inefficiency, wastefulness, telum imbelle, brutum fulmen, blank, blank cartridge, flash in the pan, vox et proeterea nihil, dead letter, bit of waste paper, dummy, paper tiger, Quaker gun, inefficacy, failure, helplessness, prostration, paralysis, palsy, apoplexy, syncope, sideration, deliquium, collapse, exhaustion, softening of the brain, inanition, emasculation, orchiotomy, orchotomy, cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, pussycat, wimp, mollycoddle, eunuch, powerless, impotent, unable, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, ineffective, inept, unfit, unfitted, unqualified, disqualified, unendowed, inapt, unapt, crippled, disabled, armless, harmless, unarmed, weaponless, defenseless, sine ictu, unfortified, indefensible, vincible, pregnable, untenable, paralytic, paralyzed, palsied, imbecile, nerveless, sinewless, marrowless, pithless, lustless, emasculate, disjointed, out of joint, out of gear, unnerved, unhinged, water-logged, on one's beam ends, rudderless, laid on one's back, done up, dead beat, exhausted, shattered, demoralized, graveled, helpless, unfriended, fatherless, without a leg to stand on, hors de combat, laid on the shelf, null and void, nugatory, inoperative, good for nothing, ineffectual, inadequate, inefficacious, der kranke Mann, desirous still but impotent to rise, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Absence of Influence

N absence of influence, impotence, powerlessness, inertness, irrelevancy, uninfluential, ineffective, inconsequential, nugatory, unconducing, unconducive, unconducting to, powerless, irrelevant.