徒労感(とろうかん)

A compound of 徒労(とろう) (futile effort, wasted labor) and 感(かん) (feeling, sense). Expresses the emotional weight of having put in effort that came to nothing — heavier and more literary than simply saying 無駄(むだ)だった (it was pointless).

Common collocations

• 徒労感(とろうかん)を覚(おぼ)える: to feel a sense of futility
• 徒労感(とろうかん)に襲(おそ)われる: to be struck by a sense of futility
• 徒労感(とろうかん)が残(のこ)る: a feeling of futility remains
• 深(ふか)い徒労感(とろうかん): deep sense of futility

Similar words

• 虚(むな)しさ: emptiness; a broader feeling of meaninglessness
• 徒労(とろう): wasted effort (the objective fact, without the emotional component)
• 脱力感(だつりょくかん): feeling of exhaustion/lethargy — physical rather than emotional