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A.Word.A.Day--futilitarian futilitarian (fyoo-til-i-TAR-ee-uhn) adjective Holding the belief that human striving is useless. noun One who holds such belief. [Blend of futile and utilitarian.] "Owner Jerry Reinsdorf had promised an all-out effort to improve, but the team seems to have adopted a futilitarian attitude." Bob Verdi; Only Flag Over Comiskey Park Is White; Chicago Tribune; Jul 9, 1989. "Even before Deirdre Bair's Life, now nearly 20 years old, a dubious kind of legend had grown up: that the miserabilist, even futilitarian, tendency of Beckett's work must be a reflection of some private unhappiness." Blake Morrison; The Poet of Less; Independent on Sunday (London, UK); Oct 6, 1996. This week's theme: portmanteau or blend words. X-Bonus The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one. -Joan Baez, musician (1941- )

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