futile effort

"I should think you would find that a futile effort."

After a futile effort no attempt was made to turn them back.

Many industry experts expect the meeting to be a futile effort.

I put my hand up in a futile effort to hide it.

It was making futile efforts to climb up after us.

As though someone else were doing it for me, my hand went out in a futile effort to find a pulse.

He'd put them to his throat in a futile effort to stay the flow.

"He came here in a futile effort to rescue a failed case."

"I simply do not wish you to risk yourselves in a futile effort."

His parents had wasted themselves in a futile effort to persuade the King to their cause.

I already knew that to be a futile effort.

She shook her head in a futile effort to clear it and made a grab for common sense.

The demons would have to give up the futile effort and find another place to reside.

When Madge had said that it was too bad, he made another futile effort to go.

The men, breathing hard, paid no attention to his futile efforts, but stood staring at each other.

Without all 20 of us, it's a futile effort.

It was probably a futile effort, but it had to be tried.

It is just one long record of fleeting hope, futile effort, and humiliation.

Evidently he'd seen the blockade late and made a futile effort to turn.

"Why should I roll away my chance for life, in a futile effort to promote yours?"

Katherine laughed and told her to slow down, but it was a futile effort.

He rocked back and forth in a futile effort to calm down.

Why prolong their misery by a futile effort to reach home?

In summer it was a futile effort to carry one's picnic lunch to the park.

After a futile effort to rebuild the bridges under fire, the French gave up and took cover.