John died a futile death

[alpacinou]

Is this correct?

John's death was needless. He died a futile death.

 

[jutfrank]

No, that's an incorrect use of futile.

 

[alpacinou]

No, that's an incorrect use of futile.

Jutfrank! What brings you to our neck of the woods? I think it's the first time I see you in the Editing section. Make yourself at home.

I better hope you stick around!

 

[jutfrank]

I suppose I must have been incredibly bored. :lol:

Thanks for the pleasant welcome.

 

[Tarheel]

Jutfrank! What brings you to our neck of the woods? I think it's the first time I see you in the Editing section. Make yourself at home.

I better hope you stick around!

Are you admonishing yourself? (That's better without "better".)

 

[emsr2d2]

Jutfrank! What brings you to our neck of the woods? I think it's the first time I have seen you in the Editing and Writing section. Make yourself at home.

I [STRIKE]better[/STRIKE] hope you stick around!

See above.

 

[alpacinou]

So, what is wrong with "John died a futile death"? Or John's death was futile. (Meaning his death did not achieve anything.)

 

[Tarheel]

I don't think a death is supposed to achieve anything. Somebody's efforts can be futile in that they didn't achieve what they hoped to achieve. A death is the ending of a life. I suppose a life could be futile. (Of course, that's sad.)

 

[jutfrank]

Your example suggests that you haven't accurately sensed the meaning of futile, which means something like 'unproductive or ineffective to some particular end'. Therefore, your sentence doesn't make sense. It doesn't mean 'pointless' in the sense of 'without meaning' or 'without reason' and it doesn't mean anything like 'unnecessary'.

I presume that you're trying to practise using futile, so I'll offer what I hope is a better example: In TV's classic science-fiction series Star Trek, there is a race of powerful alien beings whose aim is to subjugate and assimilate other races. Their famous dictum is "Resistance is futile!" The message they wish to convey is that any resistance is simply a waste of energy, since it is bound to be wholly unsuccessful.

 

[alpacinou]

I see.

But I googled futile death and found many examples.

It's used in the first sentence of this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/29/afghanistan.lukeharding

 

[jutfrank]

I see. Then make of that what you will.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

As Jut says, futile is usually used to describe various kinds of efforts. And death isn't an effort.

It's a good and fair point. But as you've shown, it's often (carelessly?) used to mean useless, too.

So now you know. It's fine with some but not all literate native English speakers.

 

[Tdol]

I'd prefer John's death was futile.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'd prefer John's death was futile.

It's the same issue. It's using the word loosely or — as Jut suggests — incorrectly.