Adjacent Words

otiose definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: serving no useful purpose; having no excuse for being; "otiose lines in a play"; "advice is wasted words"; "a pointless remark"; "a life essentially purposeless"; "senseless violence" [syn: otiose, pointless, purposeless, senseless, superfluous, wasted]
2: producing no result or effect; "a futile effort"; "the therapy was ineffectual"; "an otiose undertaking"; "an unavailing attempt" [syn: futile, ineffectual, otiose, unavailing]
3: disinclined to work or exertion; "faineant kings under whose rule the country languished"; "an indolent hanger-on"; "too lazy to wash the dishes"; "shiftless idle youth"; "slothful employees"; "the unemployed are not necessarily work-shy" [syn: faineant, indolent, lazy, otiose, slothful, work-shy]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin otiosus, from otium leisure Date: 1794 1. producing no useful result ; futile 2. being at leisure ; idle 3. lacking use or effect ; functionless Synonyms: see vain • otiosely adverb • otioseness noun • otiosity noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 serving no practical purpose; not required; functionless. 2 archaic indolent; futile. Derivatives: otiosely adv. otioseness n. Etymology: L otiosus f. otium leisure

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Otiose O"ti*ose`, a. [L. otiosus, fr. otium ease.] Being at leisure or ease; unemployed; indolent; idle. ``Otiose assent.'' --Paley. The true keeping of the Sabbath was not that otiose and un?rofitable cessation from even good deeds which they would enforce. --Alford.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Idle, unemployed, indolent.

Moby Thesaurus

abortive, airy, asinine, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, available, barren, bootless, catchpenny, disengaged, empty, fallow, fatuous, flimsy, foolish, free, fribble, fribbling, frivolous, frothy, fruitless, functionless, futile, gainless, idle, in disrepair, inane, inapplicable, inoperable, inoperative, jobless, leisure, leisured, light, lumpen, nonfunctional, nonremunerative, nonutilitarian, nugacious, nugatory, off, off duty, off work, out of employ, out of harness, out of order, out of whack, out of work, profitless, rewardless, shallow, silly, slender, slight, sterile, superficial, trifling, trite, trivial, unconducive, unemployable, unemployed, unfit, unhelpful, unoccupied, unproductive, unprofitable, unremunerative, unrewarding, unsuitable, unusable, unworkable, vacuous, vain, vapid, windy