Operating
Operating adjective - Being in effective operation.
Usage example: the only operating nuclear power plant in the state
Useless
Useless adjective - Not capable of being put to use or account.
Usage example: a garage full of useless junk
Both words in one sentence
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Also, automatic fire had a frightening tendency to bend the operating rod and make the gun useless.
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Police Are Useless: Justified; Project Mayhem infiltrated and intimidated the police in order to continue operating.
Source: Film / Fight Club - He also sees himself as completely useless since those actions led to him being injured him to the point of being unable to continue operating in the front lines and he failed to save more people than he had already.
Source: Heroic Self-Deprecation
Cite this Source
Useless and Operating. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/operating/useless
Operating & Useless. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/operating/useless>.
Useless or Operating. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/operating/useless.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "operating" and "useless" have occurred on timeline