In a futile manner; without hope of success or achievement.
From futile (from Latin 'futilis' meaning 'pouring out, leaking' metaphorically meaning 'worthless') plus the adverbial suffix '-ly.'
Futilely comes from 'futilis,' which literally meant 'something that leaks'—Romans used this metaphor for useless effort, like trying to fill a leaky bucket, making it one of history's most poetic failure words.
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