"I think of political writing as in many ways a futile act," Didion said, though it is one she feels a duty to perform.

Not to mention a purely futile act of revenge on our part.

The law does not require futile acts.

He reached for his nearest weapon - an empty bottle - and tossed it at them in a futile act of bravado.

He murdered the king and seized power, but it was a futile act.

It was a futile act; yet the fierceness of the challenge came as a warning to The Shadow.

It could have been such a futile act.

Bana condemned it both as suicide and as a pointless and futile act.

I tried to read the paper a totally futile act, of course.

If the people choose to ignore the opinion of Congress as rubbish, the censure amounts to a futile act.