| vain attempt | 4.61 | Cornelius made a vain attempt to do so. | ||
| vain hope | 2.04 | It was usually a vain hope. | ||
| vain effort | 1.38 | In fact, the video shelves are crowded with these vain efforts to reinvent the movie wheel. | ||
| vain bid | 0.86 | The rebel leader spent several months here in vain bid to win political asylum. | ||
| vain search | 0.59 | The angry crowd tore it apart in a vain search for drugs. |