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''vain'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''vain'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260727004347-00-⌔

vain - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

vain (comparativevainer or more vain, superlativevainest or most vain)

  • Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one’s own accomplishments with slight reason.
    • ✤ Synonyms: conceited, flatulent, puffed up, inflated; see also Thesaurus: arrogant, Thesaurus: vain
    • ✤ Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.1
  • Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
    • ✤ Synonyms: idle, valueless; see also Thesaurus: insignificant, Thesaurus: worthless
    • ✤ I will not hear thy vain excuse2
    • ✤ Let no man deceive you with vain words.3
    • ✤ * Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.*4
  • Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
    • ✤ Synonyms: pointless, futile, fruitless, ineffectual; see also Thesaurus: futile
    • ✤ * vain toil a vain attempt*
    • ✤ * Vain is the force of man/To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.*5
    • ✤ At our old pastimes in the hall
      ⁠We gambol’d, making vain pretence
      ⁠Of gladness, with an awful sense
      Of one mute Shadow watching all.      6
    • ✤ But Sophia’s mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments’ vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.7
  • Showy; ostentatious.
    • ✤ Synonyms: brash, pizazzy; see also Thesaurus: gaudy
    • ✤ Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules/Fill half the land with imitating Fools:/VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take,/And of one beauty many blunders make;/Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State,/Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]8

Verb

vain (third-person singular simple present vains, present participle vaining, simple past and past participle vained)

  • (transitive, rare, dated, obsolete) To frustrate.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: vān, (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /veɪn/
    • Audio (US); [vẽːn]: 🔊
  • (Scotland) IPA: /ven/
  • (Wales, without the pane–pain merger) IPA: /vein/
  • Homophones: vein; vane (pane–pain merger)
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus (“empty”).

Etymology 2

A conversion of the adjectival form of vain. The only use of this verb in English appears c. 1628 in the writings of Owen Felltham.

Printed 2026-07-27.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1959, Leo Rosten, The return of H﹡Y﹡M﹡A﹡N K﹡A﹡P﹡L﹡A﹡N: ↩

  2. c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]: ↩

  3. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 5:6: ↩

  4. 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC: ↩

  5. 1697, Virgil, “”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC: ↩

  6. 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 48: ↩

  7. 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC: ↩

  8. 1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle 4”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 25–30: ↩

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