How to Use vain in a Sentence

vain

adjective
Definition of vainnext
Synonyms for vainnext
  • He is the vainest man I know.
  • Volunteers searched the area in the vain hope of finding clues.
  • A vain effort to quell the public's fears only made matters worse.
  • She is very vain about her appearance.
  • Despite years of trying in vain, the pair had yet to have a child.
    — Nathan Smith, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2023
  • But attempts by the sun to warm up the region will largely be in vain.
    — Gerry Díaz, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Nov. 2022
  • In vain, the fans hollered for their team to rally in the final seconds.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Oct. 2021
  • And, as the old church folk would say, our living shall not be in vain.
    — Danté Stewart, CNN, 18 Feb. 2022
  • Coming down here and making a choice to play was supposed to not be in vain.
    — Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2020
  • Smith said she home-schooled Kameron and doesn’t want his death to be in vain.
    — Alexis Stevens, ajc, 1 Dec. 2022
  • Their calls for air support, which may have saved their lives, were in vain.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 24 June 2021
  • For nearly as long, the rest have tried mostly in vain to compete.
    — Laura Forman, WSJ, 19 June 2020
  • When that wait proved to be mostly in vain, Hatch prepared to move on.
    — Los Angeles Times, 17 Feb. 2022
  • That struggle may not be in vain, if the self that survives it is the authentic one.
    — Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
  • Ravipudi told the parents that their daughter did not die in vain.
    — Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2022
  • Search teams tried in vain but never found Sisof or her body.
    — Mark Thiessen, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Aug. 2020
  • That effort was in vain, as were most attempts to up my daily step count.
    — Erika Veurink, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2024
  • This isn't to say that a commitment to the Facebook boycott is in vain.
    — Michelle Santiago Cortés, refinery29.com, 29 June 2020
  • For vain people like me, these are more like threats than a set of disparate options.
    — Ashley Weatherford, The Cut, 19 June 2017
  • This time, the poll workers denied them, and men smoked cigars in a vain effort to drive them away.
    — Grant Segall, cleveland.com, 22 July 2017
  • Paramedics then tried in vain to revive him before pronouncing him dead at the scene.
    — City News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2021
  • Now, Putin argues that death on the battlefield means a life not lived in vain.
    — Andrei Kolesnikov, Foreign Affairs, 22 Aug. 2023
  • Cooper also expressed hope that the deaths of his mother and Green will not be in vain.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 3 July 2021
  • Start making an effort to reach such a place -- your efforts shouldn't be in vain.
    — Chicago Tribune, 27 June 2022
  • Crews also attempted dredging around the hull of the big boat, but that effort was in vain as well.
    — Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 17 Apr. 2022
  • Neither is the vain hope that the U.S. can beat China at its own game.
    — Eyck Freymann, Fortune, 24 Mar. 2021
  • Thousands more waited in vain outside the airport, many of them standing for hours in a sewage canal.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 30 Aug. 2021
  • Flattery won't get us anywhere as the moody Moon squares off with vain Venus.
    — Tarot Astrologers, chicagotribune.com, 15 Nov. 2021
  • If nothing is done in this regard, all other actions will be in vain.
    — Camille Knight and Xiaofei Xu, CNN, 9 Apr. 2022
  • The loss meant Stephon Huderson's big night was in vain.
    — Rod Walker, NOLA.com, 16 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: