all for naught AmE old-fashioned
all for nothing

We have tried this enough in the past, and all for naught.

It would seem as though their efforts had been all for naught.

He returned three times, and was told each time to wait - all for naught.

A few continued to object, but it was all for naught.

The union had spent $30 million, all for naught, defending them.

"They believe the work we are doing can achieve good results and it's not all for naught."

They need a sixth, or else it was all for naught.

Lose it, and the surge will have been all for naught.

But it's all for naught if you don't play well in the next little while."

"The tough part is, if you're the best, it's all for naught in a short series."

The efforts of Coke and those who have carried forward her cause haven't been all for naught, however.

And all for naught if she couldn't be reached.

In the end it was all for naught, but not for want of trying.

And what, most disturbingly, if this is all for naught?

But it was almost all for naught following a tenuous ninth.

"It was all for naught," Sprewell said of his performance.

It shows endless sacrifice, improvement too, but all for naught.

So, several Yankees returned from deep sleeps tonight - and all for naught.

The surgery would have been all for naught," Woods said.

New exculpatory evidence is discovered and presented but all for naught.

But the realities of American politics ensured that it was all for naught.

I got cheap plane tickets and spent months planning every second of our trip, now all for naught.

But this is all for naught if the assassin out there murders her first.

As it turned out, the anti-gun frenzy was all for naught.

DAntoni relates that to the team, but it is all for naught.

Now they want to say it was all for nothing.

How much would he give away if this was all for nothing?

He said his work over the past seven years had been "all for nothing".

I am sorry your help has been all for nothing, he said.

This is the end of my road, and it was all for nothing.

And of course it was all for nothing, just as I'd told them.

You have to stay safe, or this is all for nothing.

I'm sorry if you think it was all for nothing.

I had never seen such bad damage, and all for nothing, you know?

Why would anyone work, knowing it was all for nothing?

And the others - they did it all for nothing, too?

No point in stirring up a lot of talk, all for nothing.

To have that taken away, it's like it was all for nothing.

But as we soon discovered, the worry was all for nothing!

Do you call a good cargo all for nothing no pay?

But it's all for nothing, unless people actually buy those cars.

God, if this is all for nothing and we're going to die anyway!

The knowledge that it's all for nothing and you're alone, you know, down there.

If you burned down my house to get back at me, it was all for nothing.

The whole thing dies, and it was all for nothing.

If I hit the brake, this was all for nothing.

Well now, why do you say all for nothing, young mouse?

Still, it seemed foolish to have come here all for nothing.

It is too bad that his sacrifice was probably all for nothing.

Reynolds had lost everything and would soon lose his life, all for nothing.