What's the difference between inane and vain?

Inane


Definition:

  • (a.) Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless.
  • (n.) That which is void or empty.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He throws confessions about his love of guns or his lust for violence into restaurant conversations, but his inanely sophisticated companions carry on conversing about the varieties of sushi or the use of fur by leading designers.
  • (2) Indeed, the internet’s troll culture developed, at least in part, as a response to the inane “participation” offered by online marketers.
  • (3) The dialogue is perfect: the broker waxes inanely on ("A lovely space"), and the prospective buyers ooze gratitude at being granted a viewing.
  • (4) She reminds me of the time David was ridiculed for being photographed grinning inanely with a banana.
  • (5) This decade, on the other hand, has been relatively lax when it comes to pumping out neuron-destroying musical inanity.
  • (6) The internet has been awash with rumours, the inane chirping of the Twitter ranks rising slowly to a roar.
  • (7) Nobody, not even Geoff Boycott, cares about such inane guff.
  • (8) A sublime opener was followed by the inane offence that triggered Russia's comeback for an ominous victory.
  • (9) Jean-Paul Belmondo disrupts a conventional household in À Double Tour (Web of Passion, 1959) by playing inane practical jokes and completely disregarding table manners.
  • (10) This may be the only way to early counteract medically inane causal relationship being presented by the relative's advocate.
  • (11) One moment Mor was drawing a foul from Pavel Kaderabek and Selcuk Inan was hitting the wall from the free-kick, the next Kaderabek was in on Babacan’s goal and firing in a shot that was deflected wide for a corner.
  • (12) In the minds of the kind of people who bring Talking Heads CDs to parties, their apparent popularity doubtless brings to mind Nietzschean notions of the inanity of the herd and the eternal attraction of bad art.
  • (13) TURKEY Fatih Terim, now in his third spell as Turkey manager, can call on an extraordinarily technically gifted midfield, with the holding midfielder Selcuk Inan allowing Barcelona’s Arda Turan and the Leverkusen free-kick specialist Hakan Calhanoglu to attack.
  • (14) "Inane stuff about what twits are having for breakfast.
  • (15) Before you write off digital stickers as inane, they are a decent moneyspinner for LINE: of the $58m the company made in sales in the first quarter of 2013, half came from selling games and 30%, or roughly $17m, from sales of its 8,000 different stickers.
  • (16) There were also bad and inane films - playing Chinese in Dragon Seed (1944); helpless in Without Love (1945) and The Sea Of Grass (1947), both with Tracy; trying to be Clara Schumann in Song Of Love (1947); and in Vincente Minnelli's neurotic Undercurrent (1946).
  • (17) As holidays are taken and the inane rituals of party conferences loom, too many politicians and commentators seem to have fallen for a comfy bit of groupthink: that what with the odd poor poll showing and this sudden outbreak of silence, the menace has receded and we have passed “peak Ukip”.
  • (18) Yes, where I live we would all appreciate a better commute – which, since I have this opportunity to address you on the subject, would include the summary dismissal of the people who inflict those inane recorded announcements about holding on to our luggage, standing behind the yellow line, using the lifts when carrying heavy items, avoiding slipping over when it has been frosty overnight, and reading the safety instructions before travelling.
  • (19) 'An inane jumble': Trump foreign policy splits GOP on issue party once agreed on Read more Steps away from the chaos, Democrats at the US Capitol used the opportunity to portray Republicans as belonging to the “Party of Trump”.
  • (20) ■ "Wittering inanity", "Fatuous", "Pass the jubilee sickbag".

Vain


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  • (superl.) Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
  • (superl.) Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated.
  • (superl.) Showy; ostentatious.
  • (n.) Vanity; emptiness; -- now used only in the phrase in vain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For example, if we purchase new examination equipment without any consideration or if we decide what type of equipment to introduce according to the common advice of the purchase committee of the hospital or the medical school, then we cannot design an ideal system of laboratory examinations and are forced to invest a large sum of money in vain.
  • (2) The George Bush campaign juggernaut hit the first serious pothole of its cash-fuelled drive to the presidency yesterday, as the Texas governor tried in vain to fend off questions about whether he had used cocaine as a young man.
  • (3) Full set list, show one (thanks to princevault.com ) Take Me With U (acoustic) Raspberry Beret (acoustic) U Got The Look (acoustic) Instrumental jam (acoustic) Train In Vain (acoustic) Q & A (1) incl.
  • (4) VaIN rarely is an isolated lesion and frequently is preceded by, or coexists with, other types of premalignant genital squamous neoplasia.
  • (5) He’s the kind of self-styled intellectual journalist in politics who caused so much trouble in 20th century politics, not a bad man, decent enough in his way, but not as smart as he thinks he is, vain with it.
  • (6) For long spells, West Ham searched in vain for inspiration as they tried to find a way past Newcastle United’s defence and end a run of three matches without a win.
  • (7) Further, in a vain attempt for a boost in the Hoosier State, Cruz unveiled former rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate if he receives the nomination and was able to cajole the state’s sitting governor, Mike Pence, into an endorsement.
  • (8) The next few days may well determine whether, this time, such loyalty will be in vain; but, while yearning for a clarion call and what was described as "vision" in this paper's leading article yesterday, I need to pose some pretty stark questions to Guardian readers.
  • (9) He aims to put his newspapers, including the Times and the Sun, behind a paywall, something described by the co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, as a vain attempt to "put the genie back in the bottle".
  • (10) In vain I argued that Robin Day seemed to wear the same jacket and shirt every week, and fled back to radio."
  • (11) Now I can feel that my son's blood wasn't totally lost in vain.
  • (12) In vain will Cameron plead that blame should lie with Brown and his Labour colleagues.
  • (13) At a media day held to mark the completion of the training and arranged before the tragedy, soldier after soldier came forward to insist that, though they were apprehensive, they were determined to do a good job, partly to make sure that their six colleagues had not died in vain.
  • (14) He somehow scrambled to deuce and delighted in forcing Dimitrov to chase in vain from one side of the court to the other to go 6-5 up.
  • (15) Assessment of patients between 9 and 99 (mean 55) months after partial colpectomy for VAIN showed no recurrence of disease in ten patients (83%).
  • (16) The scientific establishment struggled in vain to produce evidence that would reassure the public.
  • (17) No grieving wants to go through that, and our city doesn’t want to go through that.” Murphy said an accelerated program to equip Baltimore police officers with body cameras would mean Gray “did not die in vain”.
  • (18) His mother has said she tried in vain to get help for him.
  • (19) But he flailed in vain as the police officers grabbed him, one forcing his T-shirt roughly up over his head as three or four others laid in with their wooden batons, dragging and pushing him to a line of waiting Land Cruisers and more helmeted cops.
  • (20) As Steve spends half his money trying in vain to keep a scowl off Michelle's face and the rest comfort eating, Liz stumped up half the cash.