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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
vain
    adj 1: characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated
           sense of self-importance; "a conceited fool"; "an
           attitude of self-conceited arrogance"; "an egotistical
           disregard of others"; "so swollen by victory that he was
           unfit for normal duty"; "growing ever more swollen-headed
           and arbitrary"; "vain about her clothes" [syn:
           conceited, egotistic, egotistical, self-
           conceited, swollen, swollen-headed, vain]
    2: unproductive of success; "a fruitless search"; "futile years
       after her artistic peak"; "a sleeveless errand"; "a vain
       attempt" [syn: bootless, fruitless, futile,
       sleeveless, vain]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Vain \Vain\ (v[=a]n), a. [Compar. Vainer; superl. Vainest.]
   [F. vain, L. vanus empty, void, vain. Cf. Vanish, Vanity,
   Vaunt to boast.]
   1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty;
      void; worthless; unsatisfying. "Thy vain excuse." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Every man walketh in a vain show.     --Ps. xxxix.
                                                  6.
      [1913 Webster]

            Let no man deceive you with vain words. --Eph. v. 6.
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            Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye!
                                                  --Shak.
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            Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Destitute of force or efficacy; effecting no purpose;
      fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
      [1913 Webster]

            Bring no more vain oblations.         --Isa. i. 13.
      [1913 Webster]

            Vain is the force of man
            To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
                                                  --Dryden.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having
      a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight
      reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated.
      [1913 Webster]

            But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart
            from works is barren?                 --James ii. 20
                                                  (Rev. Ver.).
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            The minstrels played on every side,
            Vain of their art.                    --Dryden.
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   4. Showy; ostentatious.
      [1913 Webster]

            Load some vain church with old theatric state.
                                                  --Pope.
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   Syn: Empty; worthless; fruitless; ineffectual; idle; unreal;
        shadowy; showy; ostentatious; light; inconstant;
        deceitful; delusive; unimportant; trifling.
        [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Vain \Vain\, n.
   Vanity; emptiness; -- now used only in the phrase

   in vain.
      [1913 Webster]

   For vain. See In vain. [Obs.] --Shak.

   In vain, to no purpose; without effect; ineffectually. " In
      vain doth valor bleed." --Milton. " In vain they do
      worship me." --Matt. xv. 9.

   To take the name of God in vain, to use the name of God
      with levity or profaneness.
      [1913 Webster]

Thesaurus Results for vain:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Gascon, abortive, absurd, airy, arrogant, asinine, barren, baseless, boastful, boasting, bootless, bootlessly, braggart, bragging, catchpenny, cocky, complacent, conceited, consequential, counterproductive, coxcombical, dandyish, delusive, delusory, doomed, effete, egocentric, egoistic, egotistical, empty, etiolated, fanfaron, fanfaronading, fatuitous, fatuous, feckless, flimsy, foolish, foppish, foredoomed, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, fruitlessly, futile, futilely, gasconading, groundless, haughty, hollow, idle, ill-founded, improperly, in vain, inadequate, inane, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inoperative, invalid, light, misleading, narcissan, narcissine, narcissistic, narcistic, nugacious, nugatory, of no force, otiose, overproud, overweening, paltry, petty, pointless, profitless, proud, puny, self-admiring, self-advertising, self-applauding, self-approving, self-assuming, self-complacent, self-conceited, self-congratulating, self-congratulatory, self-content, self-contented, self-delighting, self-endeared, self-esteeming, self-flattering, self-glorious, self-gratulating, self-gratulatory, self-important, self-lauding, self-loving, self-respecting, self-satisfied, self-sufficient, self-vaunting, shallow, silly, slender, slight, smug, sterile, stuck-up, superficial, thrasonic, thrasonical, trifling, trite, trivial, unavailable, unavailing, unbased, unfounded, ungrounded, unproductive, unprofitable, unsuccessful, unsuccessfully, unsupportable, unsupported, unsustainable, unsustained, untenable, unwarranted, useless, vacuous, vainglorious, vainly, valueless, vapid, vaporing, vaunting, void, windy, without basis, without foundation, worthless
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