adjective
1. having no practical result or outcome.
Most of our most wonderful desires are otiose at their root; their function being simply giving us something to wish for; and, ultimately, leaving us empty when our wish has been fulfilled.
Synonyms: empty, futile, hollow, idle, inactive, indolent, ineffective, laggard, lazy, slothful, sterile, superfluous, surplus, vain.
*Though in pronunciation and meaning, this word is very close to the word odious; so close, in fact that I had to triple check to be sure that this was not just a variation in spelling. It's not. A thing that is odious is useless, but also despised. Our feelings about an otiose thing, however, can be neutral or even positive. Indeed, Oscar Wilde might have said that all art is otiose.
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