Definition of Vain

Vain Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated. Showy; ostentatious. Vanity; emptiness; -- now used only in the phrase in vain. Related Definitions: As, Attempt, Conceited, Destitute, Effecting, Efficacy, Emptiness, Empty, Forge, Fruitless, Having, High, Importance, In, Ineffectual, Inflated, No, Now, Of, One, Only, Opinion, Or, Ostentatious, Own, Petty, Phrase, Proud, Puffed, Purpose, Real, Reason, Showy, Slight, Substance, The, Toil, Trifling, Up, Used, Vain, Value, Vanity, Void, With, Worthless

Vain Quotations When words are scarce they are seldom spent in vain. William Shakespeare Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain. Kahlil Gibran On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow. Friedrich Nietzsche Nature does nothing in vain. Aristotle Thou wilt find rest from vain fancies if thou doest every act in life as though it were thy last. Aristotle How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live. Henry David Thoreau It is vain for the coward to flee; death follows close behind; it is only by defying it that the brave escape. Voltaire And they write innumerable books; being too vain and distracted for silence: seeking every one after his own elevation, and dodging his emptiness. T. S. Eliot Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us. Jane Austen Husbands and wives generally understand when opposition will be vain. Jane Austen

Vain Translations vain in Afrikaans is vrugteloos vain in Dutch is vergeefs, ijdel, nutteloos vain in Finnish is turha vain in French is vain, vaniteux vain in German is eitel, vergeblich, vergeblich, Eitel vain in Italian is vano vain in Latin is inanis, irritus, leviculus vain in Spanish is vano