Profitless

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having no financial returns or benefits, resulting in a situation devoid of any gain
2. Characterized by an absence of profit, indicating a failure to achieve any monetary advantage or benefits
3. Lacking any financial gain, this term describes a situation that results in zero profit or benefit from an investment or endeavor

Etymology: "Profitless" is a plain compound: "profit" with the suffix "-less" attached. The suffix comes from Old English "-lēas," meaning "free from" or "lacking," the same element that gives English words like "careless" and "fearless." Its ancestry runs back through Proto-Germanic forms that meant something like "loose" or "free of," so the idea of being without something has been part of the suffix from the start. The word "profit" entered English from Old French "profit," which came from Latin "profectus," meaning "progress" or "advancement." So the base word originally pointed toward moving forward rather than toward money, and "profitless" literally describes something that makes no progress and gains nothing. The sense of "profitless" as lacking financial gain came from the more general sense of "profit" as any benefit.

Synonyms: unprofitable, worthless

Antonyms: profitable, beneficial