Illustration: At a community garden tap, a sweaty volunteer tips another full watering jug into a bucket, only for the water to pour straight out through a large missing section of its base. The bucket stands slightly raised on two bricks, making both the escaping stream and its empty interior visible.

JLPT N1nounLevel estimated by Bebop

徒と労ろう

torou

fruitless effort, wasted effort

Example sentences

  1. 言いうまでもないことだが捜索そうさくは徒労とろうに終おわった。

    It goes without saying, but the search ended in vain.

    Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · Source

  2. 私わたしはその計画けいかくを実現じつげんするためにあらゆる努力どりょくをしたが、結局けっきょくそれは徒労とろうに終おわった。

    I made every effort to realize the plan but after all it turned out to be in vain.

    Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · Source

  3. ちなみに謙信けんしんの関東出陣回数かんとうしゅつじんかいすうは17回かいであり、どれもことごとく徒労とろうに終おわるものだったが、これも謙信けんしんの義理堅ぎりがたさを証明しょうめいしている。

    Incidentally, 17 departures for the front in the Kanto region by Kenshin were all vain efforts, which proved his strong sense of duty.

    KFTT corpus (NICT), Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

Kanji in 徒労

  • 徒on foot; juniorOnトKunいたずら・あだ
  • 労labor; thank forOnロウKunろうする・いたわる・いたずき

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