Bootless is an adjective that means useless or unsuccessful.

A quick glance at our word of the day may suggest a word to describe someone who doesn’t have boots. But the ‘boot’ in bootless has nothing to do with footwear. It actually comes from Old English and means ‘use’ or ‘avail.’ By adding the suffix L-E-S-S, we get a synonym of ‘useless’ or ‘ineffective.’ For example: With all the financial troubles I was having at the time, I was too embarrassed to attend my ten year high school reunion. I didn’t want anyone to see how bootless the man voted most likely to succeed had become.