vain

Connor's sensational 40/20 with two minutes remaining ultimately was in vain as Palasia's ball-carrying arm had already hit the floor in the build-up.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

Instead of the happy family reunion they'd always imagined, Godwin's first trip to the US was spent searching New York in vain for the father he'd waited years to reconnect with.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Regardless of reactions from his supporters, Abdurahmanovic said attempts to revise his legacy were in vain.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

Hours later, he and the little pig he tried in vain to catch went viral.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

As for Penelope, even as she jogged along, trying in vain to keep the galloping children in sight, the “do not think of elk” principle was in full force.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

But are vainer men than me really cultivating their monobrows?

From The Guardian ● May 3, 2017

You might even be vainer for some people might by the label in the belief that is better quality and thus a better value.

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2016

For clients who are vainer about their hearing than their eyesight, Otarion, Inc., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., has designed a hearing aid housed in standard, horn-rimmed glasses.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ulape had two boxes of earrings, for she was vainer than I, and when she put them into her baskets, she drew a thin mark with blue clay across her nose and cheekbones.

From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

He was the vainer and more foolish thing, She the more poisonous.

From Collected Poems Volume Two by Alfred Noyes

Self-defense, the historian wrote, naturally required “the perpetual repetition” of what he called “the vainest and most disgusting of the pronouns”: the first-person singular.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

This vainest of Falstaffs is a genuine slob whom Boritt houses in a shabby bachelor pad wallpapered in purple zebra stripes.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2021

For years D.C. had the vainest of owners, but he was balanced by Bobby Beathard and Joe Gibbs, two deft managers of ego — both theirs and others.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 13, 2013

Unexpectedly, he discovers in Sondra Finchley, beautiful heiress, a sweetheart who will fulfill his dearest, vainest dreams.

From Time Magazine Archive

The vainest, most slap-happy and irreverent of men, in the presence of redwoods, goes under a spell of wonder and respect.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck