America's true unemployment rate may, in fact,be higher than the number provided by the Labor Department, which does not include people who searched for work in vain and have given up, or those who settled for part-time work.

VOA: standard.2009.07.02

All he did was work in the souks, the old markets of Aleppo, waiting in vain for the tourists to come back.

CNN: In Syria, searching for loved one taken away

But they are afraid of spending money in vain attempts that won't work.

WSJ: Americans oppose paying for storm-ravaged beaches

Trier and his co-scenarist, Eskil Vogt, have a keen sense of the rivalries and resentments at work in an ingrown circle of friends, but the vain gamesmanship pushes it to the sidelines.

NEWYORKER: Reprise