vainly

«vainly» in Mova's school dictionary: Without success; in vain: he tried vainly to open the door — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adverb (vainly)

meaning for a pupil

1) Without success; in vain: he tried vainly to open the door. tree →

2) (less common) In a vain, proud way about your looks or abilities. tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in stories about efforts that fail: Alice tries vainly to reach the key on the glass table. Common phrase: «in vain» (= with no result). In The Wind in the Willows Mole searches vainly for the path in the Wild Wood.

examples

• Alice tried vainly to reach the golden key. tree →
• He searched vainly for his lost glove. tree →
• Mole looked vainly for a way out of the wood. tree →
• The cat jumped vainly at the bird. tree →
• They waited vainly for the bus. tree →
• She vainly admired herself in every mirror. tree →
• Vainly they tried to imagine what death could be like. tree →

note

From «vain», which has two meanings: «useless» (in vain) and «too proud of your looks». Homophones: vain, vein (a blood tube), vane (a weathervane).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «vainly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.