How to Use vain in a Sentence
vain
adjective
- 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.
-
Here's to the selfie, in all its forms: the public, the private, the tasteful, the goofy, the cool, the vain.
—
Elena Nicolaou,
refinery29.com,
2 Sep. 2021
-
Smith said she home-schooled Kameron and doesn’t want his death to be in vain.
—
Alexis Stevens,
ajc,
1 Dec. 2022
-
Despite years of trying in vain, the pair had yet to have a child.
—
Nathan Smith,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 Nov. 2023
-
And, as the old church folk would say, our living shall not be in vain.
—
Danté Stewart,
CNN,
18 Feb. 2022
-
Neither is the vain hope that the U.S. can beat China at its own game.
—
Eyck Freymann,
Fortune,
24 Mar. 2021
-
In vain, the fans hollered for their team to rally in the final seconds.
—
Tom Krasovic,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
24 Oct. 2021
-
But attempts by the sun to warm up the region will largely be in vain.
—
Gerry Díaz,
San Francisco Chronicle,
2 Nov. 2022
-
The loss meant Stephon Huderson's big night was in vain.
—
Rod Walker,
NOLA.com,
16 Oct. 2020
-
Their calls for air support, which may have saved their lives, were in vain.
—
The Editorial Board,
WSJ,
24 June 2021
-
When that wait proved to be mostly in vain, Hatch prepared to move on.
—
Los Angeles Times,
17 Feb. 2022
-
Search teams tried in vain but never found Sisof or her body.
—
Mark Thiessen,
Anchorage Daily News,
27 Aug. 2020
-
Flattery won't get us anywhere as the moody Moon squares off with vain Venus.
—
Tarot Astrologers,
chicagotribune.com,
15 Nov. 2021
-
This isn't to say that a commitment to the Facebook boycott is in vain.
—
Michelle Santiago Cortés,
refinery29.com,
29 June 2020
-
Coming down here and making a choice to play was supposed to not be in vain.
—
Jeff Zillgitt,
USA TODAY,
25 Aug. 2020
-
Or dancing on the ice in a vain attempt to keep their feet warm on a minus-30 ice-fishing trip.
—
John Schandelmeier,
Anchorage Daily News,
29 Jan. 2018
-
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
-
Worked off to the side during training camp and waited in vain as the 49ers sought trade partners.
—
Houston Mitchell,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Oct. 2022
-
Now, Putin argues that death on the battlefield means a life not lived in vain.
—
Andrei Kolesnikov,
Foreign Affairs,
22 Aug. 2023
-
But since then, many others have picked up where Paul left off, to make sure Jesse didn’t die in vain.
—
AZCentral.com,
26 June 2023
-
For nearly as long, the rest have tried mostly in vain to compete.
—
Laura Forman,
WSJ,
19 June 2020
-
Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.
—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
7 Aug. 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
-
The kind of night that would see a star like Tatum sprinting down the court chasing, in vain, a loose ball headed out of bounds.
—
Globe Staff,
BostonGlobe.com,
11 June 2022
-
The kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against vain, power-hungry mermaids.
—
Kirsten Chuba,
The Hollywood Reporter,
29 June 2023
-
Ravipudi told the parents that their daughter did not die in vain.
—
Los Angeles Times,
10 Jan. 2022
-
Her sailors tried in vain to keep the Yorktown afloat, but the ship sank on the morning of June 7, killing 141 officers and crew.
—
Christine Rousselle,
Fox News,
6 Oct. 2023
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:
