vain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"When I'm working, I tell myself that those souls did not die in vain."
From Barron's • Jun. 6, 2026
With each stride, I squirmed deeper into the Florsheims’ tapered toes in a vain effort to spare my chafing heels.
From Slate • Jun. 5, 2026
A woman whose daughter died less than two weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour is campaigning to change "appalling" research funding so her death "isn't in vain".
From BBC • May 27, 2026
Playing a childless, vain, pitch-perfect vision of Los Angeles’ wickedness in “Maps to the Stars,” Julianne Moore mothered so hard she almost separated California right down the San Andreas fault line.
From Salon • May 10, 2026
It made him rather vain of his bridge game, and he talked several times of how a man could always make a living at bridge if he were ever forced to.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
Vocabulary lists containing vain
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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