VAIN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does vain mean? 

• VAIN (adjective)
  The adjective VAIN has 2 senses:

1. characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance

2. unproductive of success

  Familiarity information: VAIN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VAIN (adjective)

Comparative: vainer   
Superlative: vainest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance

Synonyms:

conceited; egotistic; egotistical; self-conceited; swollen; swollen-headed; vain

Context example:

vain about her clothes

Similar:

proud (feeling self-respect or pleasure in something by which you measure your self-worth; or being a reason for pride)

Derivation:

vanity (the trait of being unduly vain and conceited; false pride)

vanity (the quality of being valueless or futile)

vanity (feelings of excessive pride)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Unproductive of success

Synonyms:

bootless; fruitless; futile; sleeveless; vain

Context example:

a vain attempt

Similar:

unproductive (not producing or capable of producing)

 Context examples 

It had not been forgotten before, but it had been soon acknowledged vain to attempt to fix a day.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In vain Meg begged him to stop.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You have not taught me quite in vain.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

They instantly carried it to the cottage of an old woman near the spot and endeavoured, but in vain, to restore it to life.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But there was no sign of him, and it was in vain that I shouted.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But haste was all in vain.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Consider—if reading had not been taught, Mrs. Radcliffe would have written in vain—or perhaps might not have written at all.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

In vain I begged him to tell me more.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Dennin was conscious. He had rolled over and over on the floor in vain efforts to free himself.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In vain we dragged out some of the pieces.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)