WORD LISTS

Unimportant

Mon Jun 23 11:35:35 EDT 2025
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Don't sweat the small stuff! This list covers words for things that are forgettable, unnecessary, or a waste of time.
extraneous
He knew he couldn't tell stories, that he always included extraneous details and tangents that interested only him.
futile
Futile is a synonym for pointless. It comes from the Latin futilis, meaning "leaky," as in a bucket that won't hold water.
He suddenly saw how futile, how ridiculous the situation was.
immaterial
Something material has substance, is relevant or real. Immaterial means the opposite: insubstantial or irrelevant. It's often used in a legal context, describing something not relevant to a case.
The prosecution protested that the question was immaterial, and the judge agreed.
inconsequential
A consequential decision makes an impact or dramatically changes a situation. Inconsequential describes the opposite: something that doesn't matter and has no effect.
I forced myself to concentrate on the logic problems, but somehow they seemed inconsequential to me.
insignificant
He was dying, alone and insignificant, and nobody cared.
irrelevant
Any words would serve, the more irrelevant and superficial the better, any words which would stop him; I didn’t want to see this.
negligible
Negligible describes something that is too small to matter. It comes from the Latin verb negligere, which is also the root of negligent and neglect.
“The land area of the planet is a little less than two hundred million square miles. The percentage is ... so small as to be negligible.”
nugatory
Nugatory comes from the Latin nugatorius, meaning "worthless" or "pointless."
It includes “insuperable,” meaning impossible to overcome, and “nugatory,” of no value or importance.
paltry
The origin of paltry is unclear, but it likely comes from the Germanic palt, meaning "rag."
I’d soon be cutting into my paltry stash of U.S. dollars.
pointless
I took a few steps back down the staircase, but it was pointless to pretend that I hadn’t been listening.
trivial
Something trivial is minor, too small to be important. You might recognize the word from trivia: a contest to see who knows the most random facts about a variety of subjects.
The argument was based on something so trivial it didn’t seem worth wasting a single word on it.
worthless
The early settlers took up land they didn’t need and couldn’t use; they took up worthless land just to own it.

Word List Actions:

Create a new Word List