Vain example sentences
Related (14): futile, fruitless, unsuccessful, pointless, useless, conceited, arrogant, proud, narcissistic, vanity, vainly, vainglorious, ineffective, worthless
"Vain" Example Sentences
Common Phrases
- in vain
- vain attempt
- vain effort
- vain hope
- vain pride
- vain search
- vain promise
- vain gesture
- vain pursuit
- vain resistance
- vain boasting
Examples by Level
A1
- It was all in vain.
- His vain effort did not work.
A2
- She made a vain attempt to fix the problem before leaving.
- He was too vain to ask for help when he needed it.
B1
- Looking back, all those vain promises we made to each other meant absolutely nothing.
- The vain pursuit of perfection had consumed most of his adult life without bringing him any peace.
B2
- She wasn't vain about her looks, but she cared deeply — perhaps too deeply — about her professional reputation.
- Their vain resistance to the inevitable changes only delayed the collapse by a few months.
C1
- What we often mistake for ambition is merely a vain attempt to outrun our own mortality and insignificance.
- The vain search for validation through external achievement had left him spiritually hollow, though materially comfortable.
C2
- There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from watching someone pursue a vain dream with such fierce conviction that you can't bring yourself to tell them the truth.
- He'd constructed an entire identity around vain accomplishments, and when that edifice finally crumbled, there was nothing underneath.
Examples by Scenario
🏠 Everyday Life
- My neighbor spent all morning trying to fix his car, but it was vain — the engine's completely shot.
- She kept checking her phone for a text that never came, a vain habit she couldn't break.
💼 Workplace
- His vain attempts to take credit for her work finally caught up with him when the boss reviewed the actual emails.
- The team made a vain effort to meet the deadline, but the project was fundamentally broken from the start.
📊 Business
- The company's vain attempt to rebrand itself as eco-friendly fooled nobody who'd seen their environmental record.
- Their vain pursuit of market dominance through aggressive pricing eventually bankrupted them.
🛒 Buying / Shopping
- I spent three hours comparing prices on this vain search for the perfect deal, and I still overpaid.
- He was too vain to buy the cheaper version, insisting on the luxury brand even though they're identical.
✈️ Travel
- The vain hope that we'd avoid crowds by going off-season didn't pan out at all.
- She was vain about always staying at five-star hotels, which made the budget trip pretty awkward.
📚 Education
- The teacher's vain attempt to make calculus interesting through memes fell completely flat with the class.
- His vain pride prevented him from asking for tutoring, even though he was clearly struggling.
❤️ Relationships
- We made vain promises to stay in touch after college, but we both knew it wouldn't happen.
- She wasn't vain about her appearance, but she was vain about being the smartest person in the room, which pushed people away.
📰 News / Politics
- The senator's vain attempt to spin the scandal backfired spectacularly when new documents surfaced.
- The government's vain efforts to control the narrative only made people more suspicious.
💻 Technology
- The app's vain promise to revolutionize productivity turned out to be just another notification machine.
- His vain belief that AI could replace human judgment led to some genuinely terrible decisions.
📝 Formal Writing
- The study found that vain attempts to suppress negative emotions often resulted in increased anxiety and depression.
- Regulations governing workplace safety have proven that vain reliance on voluntary compliance is insufficient.