Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vain

Vain (vān), a. [Compar. Vainer; superl. Vainest.] [F. vain, L. vanus empty, void, vain. Cf. Vanish, Vanity, Vaunt to boast.]

1. Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying. "Thy vain excuse." Shak.

Every man walketh in a vain show. Ps. xxxix. 6.

Let no man deceive you with vain words. Eph. v. 6.

Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye! Shak.

Vain visdom all, and false philosophy. Milton.

2. Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.

Bring no more vain oblations. Isa. i. 13.

Vain is the force of man To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. Dryden.

3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated.

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? James ii. 20 (Rev. Ver.).

The minstrels played on every side, Vain of their art. Dryden.

4. Showy; ostentatious.

Load some vain church with old theatric state. Pope.

Syn. — Empty; worthless; fruitless; ineffectual; idle; unreal; shadowy; showy; ostentatious; light; inconstant; deceitful; delusive; unimportant; trifling.

Vain, n. Vanity; emptiness; — now used only in the phrase in vain.

For vain. See In vain. [Obs.] Shak. — In vain, to no purpose; without effect; ineffectually. " In vain doth valor bleed." Milton. " In vain they do worship me." Matt. xv. 9. — To take the name of God in vain, to use the name of God with levity or profaneness.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.