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Definitions

vain

[veyn] / veɪn /




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.

At the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, the staff tried in vain to save the program.

From Salon • Mar. 11, 2026

The last few hours were all in vain.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 27, 2026

The Pentagon has since tried in vain to demote his military rank and a grand jury have declined to charge him with seditious conspiracy.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

So far, so clear, but even given the program’s three-sentence synopsis, what unfolds around the vain King fails to deliver narrative clarity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Before her stretched a vast treeless waste, where heather and dwarf willow hugged the ground in a vain attempt to avoid the wind; where small peat-brown lakes shivered amid tossing marsh grass.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver